Chains
by WaspInterprizes
Summary: Loki strikes up a bond with the woman who puts on his chains. A story about love, hate, secrets, and lies, but mostly about a young man and a young woman trying to find their places in the universe. Starts at the beginning of Thor: The Dark World.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion."

\- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Masque of the Red Death"

The man was about to return home, certain his companions had left him, when he heard a small cry.

He had, of course, already seen the men in masks with weapons, heard their hushed tones, and smelled the strong stench of human blood, so he had known already that something horrible was happening. But he had vowed never to get involved in situations that did not concern him, no matter how sticky they may be.

But ignoring what was happening was impossible after he looked to see where the cry came from; the girl who had made the sound looked too much like the woman that he loved himself. The same dark hair, pale skin, and small frame. All except for the eyes. The eyes of this girl were violet. Big violet eyes that looked up at him pleadingly.

He shivered as he walked closer to the girl-not sure if it was because he was horrified at what he saw, or if it was because it was cold in Russia even in July.

The first few times she tried to speak only blood came out of her mouth. After he got over some of his shock he tore off a piece of the sheet she was sprawled across and used it to wipe away the blood. Finally she was able to say something, "помочь." _Help_.

As he bent down closer to her, he thought regrettably of how he had not apprenticed to a physician as he had originally intended. _If only my father was here to tell me 'I told you so.' _


	2. Chapter 1: Tricks

Chapter 1: Tricks

Of course it made perfect sense. It made perfect sense that whenever he had needed a word with the All-Father before, he would have to wait for an audience with him like everyone else.

He would have to wait as if he were a lowly peasant who needed to petition for assistance when he had had a bad crop year and would have to wait for days or even weeks for a moment of the All-Father's precious time.

Never mind that he was a prince.

But now, when he wouldn't have minded a few weeks to himself to formulate a plan, (or an escape) Loki was to see the All-Father immediately on his return to Asgard for sentencing. This was just how his life seemed to be going lately.

Of course his requests to see the queen had been denied as well.

As much as he really wasn't in the mood to see her, he was willing to try any means necessary to save him-self from whatever punishment Odin had in store for him.

For the first time in his life, he was truly frightened.

Thor had been banished to Earth for what really was just a typical skirmish on Jotunheim, and Odin had loved Thor much more than he loved Loki, who was not even really related to Odin, just a pawn in his schemes.

So Loki felt he certainly had a reason to be frightened of what his punishment might be, having just attempted to conquer Midgard and killed thousands of people in the process.

Oh, Gods. What could possibly be in store for him? Banishment, like Thor? He could live with banishment, but not if Odin stripped him of his powers. Could it be even worse? Torture? Death? Torture then Death? Surely even-

A voice brought him back to the present, and he realized that the voice, which belonged to one of the stupid guards whom his brother had handed him over to after his return to Asgard, had been talking to him for some time.

"-and you will be allowed to change into something more presentable, and wash yourself for your summons to the All-Father. We will return in ten minutes and your highness should be ready by then."

"How kind." he muttered half to himself.

As if he could not just use his magic to make himself appear to look clean and well-rested, and conjure clothes that were not torn from the result of a giant green monster's temper tantrum.

But after the day (or month) that he had had, a shower and a change of clothes actually seemed like a nice idea.

They brought him to one of the last cells in the deepest part of the dungeons. Apparently where they kept the criminals who were considered the most dangerous.

Well that at least was flattering.

When he was brought into the cell the guards took off his chains and left him by himself. He looked around for a moment while rubbing his sore wrists.

_Shower? Shower where?_

"Ah." He said to himself after looking around.

Upon closer inspection he could see a separation in the wall that created a thin line. He pushed gently on this part of the wall and the wall slid open to show a small bathroom area. How quaint, he thought. And needlessly decorative. Not that Loki was complaining. He'd always had an appreciation for the beautiful things in life: a pleasing song, an interesting novel, a pretty face, a particularly delightful spell or a very clever trick.

So many of the things that his "family" could not appreciate. Except for his mother, really. But he had to remind himself that any shared interests were purely coincidental; he was not related to Frigga any more than he was related to Odin or Thor.

He thought all of this in the shower, enjoying the icy cold water running down his head. Even now he still refused to think about why he had always preferred the cold, would not think about the fact that he was the offspring of a race of monsters.

As he stepped out of the bathroom attachment and slid the wall closed, he noticed that some clothes had been left on his bed- a loose, plain green shirt with loose black pants to match.

Prisoner's clothes. No matter, he would put them on out of sheer want for comfort, but he would not let Odin or anyone else see him wearing them.

And with that thought immediately changed his appearance to clothes that looked more like his usual clothes-although slightly different in appearance. He liked to change things up a bit every now and then.

He was staring across the hall observing his surroundings, and noticing that none of the other cells near him were occupied when he heard the quiet sound of his cell door being opened.

When he turned to look, he figured he must still be seeing stars from his fight with the Hulk, because the person standing at his cell door with one hand on the wall and one foot through the door was not the homely guard that had left him here.

The young woman that stepped through the door was one of the most beautiful women he had seen in all of the nine realms. She was exactly his type, too-from her pitch-black hair to her lily-white skin. (How often had he tried to tell Sif that she would look better with dark hair? No, he had had to _show_ her, and then she had not appreciated his gift like she thought he would.)It was almost like looking in a mirror. How long had it been since he'd seen an Asgardian woman? Of course she was a little short, but he couldn't stop looking at her all the same.

"Hello." She said so softly he almost didn't hear her. She was staring at the ground as she slowly made her way over to him. Her down cast eyes and jittery movements made it obvious that she was nervous.

"Hello." He said unnecessarily loud, looking her dead in the eyes, trying his very best to make her uncomfortable.

His greeting made her jump and look back up at him.

Gods, the girl was jittery. Just the type of person who was too tempting not to trick.

As she continued to make her way over to him, he gave the illusion of broken glass lying on the ground in front of him. Stepping out of the way, she stepped right into a puddle of water from his shower a few minutes ago and fell flat on her back.

Bewildered, she looked up at him red-faced from the cold ground of his cell.

He didn't hear what she said next over the sound of his own cruel laughter, so he politely had to ask her to repeat herself.

"I'm sorry madam. My selfish amusement at your moment of clumsiness has prohibited me from hearing what you were saying. Would you mind repeating yourself?"

Her face seemed redder from anger now than from surprise or embarrassment.

"I said I am here to put on your chains for your summons to his majesty, the All-Father." As she finished getting up off the ground, she reached down and picked up something she had dropped, and he saw that she indeed had his handcuffs.

"So you are." He smiled and tilted his head towards her. "And to what honor do I owe receiving such a lovely jailor? Is this a late birthday present from Odin during the year I was gone? It would certainly be a first, but I must say it would indeed make up for all of the neglected years past…" as he winked and stepped closer to her.

Now she definitely looked angry. "Listen, I-."

"Have you put the chains on the prisoner's hands?" asked the guard who had led him to his cell originally, stepping into the cell.

"I was just doing, that actually." She said with her quiet voice and stepped closer to him.

While she reached out and grabbed one of his wrists with a small, warm hand, he noticed two more guards coming in with what he assumed were the rest of his chains.

Thoroughly amused, he stood very still as he looked down and watched her gently but efficiently cuff his hands.

After this was finished, a tall guard with red hair and small eyes handed her more chains.

First, she took the metal belt and reached around his back to buckle it around his waist. Then, she took the cuffs for his feet and fastened those on as well. First his left foot, then his right foot, and then they clasped together. The guard handed her another smaller circular cuff, which he was dismayed to find out was for his neck. But for the first time since she had started putting his bonds on, she hesitated for a moment, and he realized it was because she couldn't reach his neck from her small height.

Before he could offer to bend down for her like the polite prince that he was, she just stepped onto his feet and reached up to buckle the cuff around his neck. Her closeness came as a sudden but pleasant shock to him. While she had her soft fingers on his neck he casually blew a strand of her hair out of her face. Instead of smiling back at him, however, she just stared stoically back at him with a most dutiful look on her face.

She turned her head to avoid his gaze and walked away. "He is safe to see the All-Father now," as she slipped the key into her pocket.

The redheaded guard nodded and called out into the hall.

Two guards came in and took a chain each that was connected to his belt. The red haired guard, whom he heard one of the others call Stieg, opened the door to his cell and beckoned him out. He stepped out, followed by the two guards holding his chains.

The girl gently closed the door after they left, and followed quietly behind them.


	3. Chapter 2: Threats

**Chapter 2. Threats**

It was part of her job to try to feel as detached as possible. Well, it wasn't really a part of her job but she just found that it was easier that way when working with criminals. They all made her sick, every person in the prisons. Murders, thieves, rapists, and sadists. She had seen and spoke with them all. Or most of them at least.

But even she had to admit it was hard to feel detached when a man obviously loved his mother so much.

During the walk back to the prisoner's cell she couldn't stop thinking about the tortured expression on his face when the All-Father told his son that he would never see his mother again.

For a minute he had not looked like the trickster, the liar, and the murderer she had heard that he was. He had looked like a very young child whose parents had just told them that a favorite pet had just died and they couldn't understand why.

For the first time since she had laid eyes on him he didn't seem to have anything smart to say. Not even his usual smirk. He was just staring off into space, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

When they returned to his cell, she began doing the opposite of what she had been doing about an hour before; first she removed the chains on his neck, stepping on his feet once again, which elicited no response this time.

She wanted very badly to tell him she was sorry about his mother, but she couldn't seem to work up the courage. She was still grappling with it when she finally pulled off his handcuffs, the last bit of chains he was wearing.

Then she surprised herself by saying softly but quickly, "I'm sorry. About your mother."

His green eyes were stone as he finally looked down at her.

"Are you?" he said angrily, no trace of a smile on his face now.

Before she could blink he had grabbed her and pulled her back flush against his chest. He wrapped one of his arms around her slim waist, pinning her arms to her sides. His other hand was wrapped around her throat.

His fingers were long and cold, covering almost all of her tiny throat. Then they were squeezing and she was finding it difficult to breathe.

The guards rushed to help her and he jerked them both back a few steps.

"Don't come closer or I'll break her neck!"

Stieg, the redheaded guard, motioned the others not to come closer.

There was a short and shocked moment of silence; except for the sound of her gasping for air.

Then Prince Loki exploded.

"Does the All-Father really that think I would cooperate just because the one putting on my chains is a pretty little wench? That I would sit back and let myself be chained and imprisoned because it's a girl that's putting the chains on me? Does he think I won't kill her and escape because she's young and small? _Well?!_ Does he?"

He sneered at the two guards as they froze in shock and horror at the implications of his words.

"Do you?" he asked the guards.

With the hand around her throat he twisted her head away from him and whispered to her menacingly, "_Do you_?"

She tried to speak but his hand was too tight around her throat and her heart was beating in her ears, in her neck, in her skull.

He turned back to the guards.

"Open the door, lower the guard, and step aside, or I will snap her neck before you've even had the time to pray to the All-father and then I'll do the same to you."

He squeezed her neck even harder as if to emphasize his threat. She tried wildly to free herself but it was useless. He tightened his other arm around her waist until she couldn't even remember what it was like to have oxygen in her lungs.

"No." Stieg said calmly, his blue eyes meeting the dark prince's green ones evenly.

She whimpered in fear and choked for oxygen as the prince and the guard stared at one another for a moment.

Remarkably, the prince let go of her neck and waist and threw her to the ground for the second time that day.

Stieg helped her up as she continued to gasp for air. He started to say something about the prince being punished, how this would never happen again, but she didn't give him time to finish as she stormed out of the cell.

She didn't look back at the prince who had just threatened to kill her, or the guards who were about to let him, but all three of them solemnly watched her leave.


	4. Chapter 3: Messages

**Chapter 3: Messages**

Loki wasn't really one to feel remorse, but for once he actually found himself feeling a little bad about what he had done to the Asgardian girl the other day.

_It's just because you're in prison_, he told himself, _alone with nothing but your thoughts. No wonder you're having sentimental feelings._

This evening found him pacing back and forth across his cell.

He shouldn't feel bad. For Valhalla's sake he had let her live, after all.

He had only been in the dungeons for two days, but it felt like an eternity.

He was restless like he had never been before.

Thor had always been the one with the short attention span; the who got bored dangerously easily.

Before his life had taken such a sharp turn, one of his favorite things to do had been to lock himself in one the darker and deeper recesses of the palace's grand library, and read, study, and practice all types of magic.

Loner he may have been, but he had still needed some type of interaction every now and then, which he had always received from his loud "brother" and kind "mother."

He wandered if that girl with the strange purple eyes would return to fasten his chains again.

He felt the immediate kindred with her that he had always felt when he met an Aesir who had dark hair like his own.

Diversity was much lower on Asgard then on, say, Midgard where he had noticed it was actually more common to have dark hair.

Loki had probably known 4 or 5 people in all of Asgard who had dark hair (not counting Sif, whose dark hair had been a personal attempt of his to increase the number of dark haired Asgardians) and maybe 20 or 30 whose eyes were a color besides blue.

His own looks had always made him feel different, out-of-place. _Among other things._

He wandered if the Asgardian girl who put on his chains ever felt out-of-place. She was bound to. Her pitch-black hair was enough to make any Aesir stare, but he found her violet eyes absolutely bewitching.

If events had been different, maybe he would have met her before in a shop or in the streets, and asked her to come have a drink with him or spend an evening near the river.

But Odin had taken all that away from him. First, by taking him and then by lying to him and all of Asgard about his true heritage. By keeping from him that he belonged to a race of monsters that Loki despised.

The only thing he hated more than Odin was himself.

…

It was a little after midnight when she picked her warm cup off of a stack of parchment that was on her desk, noticing the ring it had left around her notes with dismay.

But they were just notes after all, she would never have left anything on the actual evidence. As it was, it always made her nervous to have food or drink in her office or in the lab, but when one sometimes spends whole nights pouring over documents, cases, and samples, a nice warm drink was necessary to help stay awake.

Asgardian "laboratories" were not that different from the ones on Midgard, aside from the way they looked. They both were actually mainly comprised of the same general equipment and setup. There were just a few differences, mainly that the Asgardian ones were grander.

Parchment replaced paper, crystal beakers replaced glass ones, sketches replaced photographs, gilded lamps and torches replaced electric bulbs, and metric measuring containers were replaced with tools designed for Asgardian measurement.

But they were both used for the same reasons. Scientific discovery, engineering, and, in her case, investigation.

Yes, even on Asgard there were murders and disappearances whose investigation was the occupation of many a tenacious Asgardian.

It seemed sometimes she spent whole nights, years, lifetimes, pouring over the very worst that Asgardian society had to offer: Bloody samples, scraps of torn out hair, statements from liars and killers, bits of fingernails, testimony of eyewitnesses dead and gone before she could speak to them, and crime scene sketches that guaranteed even if she were at home and not in the lab, she would not be getting any sleep anyways. Yes, the sketches were the worst. It was bad enough seeing whatever had happened at the scene of the crime, but having the drawings and looking at whatever she and her team had seen was like reliving that moment of initial discovery over and over again. That moment when she would walk into a room, an alley, a play area for children and relive that horrible moment that happened all the time when she asked herself, "Why?"

She jumped when she heard a noise behind her and dropped her cup on the floor, where it shattered into three pieces.

She let out a breath when she saw it was just her assistant.

"Gods, Ragna. You scared the lights out of me."

"I'm sorry, I was just going to ask if you wanted me to get you some more tea," her assistant asked in her nasally voice. (Nasally, but somehow still charming.) "Although I guess that's a no now unless I can find someone else's cup to steal in the common room," she said as she bent down and held up the remains of the scientist's old mug.

"Oh." She said sadly. "I really liked that one."

She had liked it very much, in fact. It had been a gift from her mother when she got this apprenticeship. It had been black and said, "Worlds Best FORENSIC SEROLOGIST, in large generic writing, very corny looking.

Her mother had bought it from an inter-realm smuggler who had just been to Midgard. It had been very expensive, because smugglers had to be very, very skilled to sneak past Heimdall's ever-watchful gaze. They didn't exactly have a title for what she did and studied in Asgard, which was examining blood samples from a crime scene, but on Midgard they called a person who studied blood a "serologist" and the "forensic" part had something to do with crime. She loved that title, and her mother knew it; hence the gift of the mug.

She had laughed as her mother had given it to her.

"But mother," she had laughed, "what if the two other apprentices that were chosen think they're the best forensic serologists?"

"Oh, sweetie. That's what the mug is for. So that they will know who the best one at the investigation section of the university is. Or, if you decide to you, you know, give up your dreams for a more successful career," she joked, "you could always scratch out the S and draw over it a "C" and then become a famous inventor of new Midgardian breakfast foods."

"I don't think 'Cerologist' is a word, and I also don't think that's how it would be spelled."

"Wow what is it with you fancy university students and back sassing your mothers?" Her mother had teased.

"Mother you went to the university, too." She had replied.

"Like I said, back sassing. It has to stop sweeting."

Corny or not, her mug had brought her luck. Of the three apprentices that had come to the criminal sector, she was the one still there, with the paid apprenticeship and the respect of all of her superiors.

Ragna's voice brought her back to the present.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to break your cup, I just got lonely upstairs and wanted to come down for a minute. Everyone else has left now. Even the servant who washes the columns in the greeting room. Believe me I talked his ear off before he finally just shut the door on me and went home. Anyway, it got spooky up there with just me and all the lamps out."

"I understand. It's all right Ragna, it's not your fault. You know you can leave anytime. Really, I wish you would. It's not your job to stay here and babysit me."

"Oh come on. I'm not going to leave you to walk back to school all by yourself at night."

"I would be all right, really."

It wasn't usually this empty at the crime lab, a large shiny building devoted to all manner of investigations and justice. But this week was a holiday, the anniversary of when the All-Father ascended the throne.

Celebrations would be going on the whole week, and most everyone left early during this week. Usually night was very busy. Especially when there was a big case going on like the disappearance of the Head of the Education department's twins girls. Those weeks, the place had been chaotic night and day, everyone who was employed working double, triple shifts. It was hot and crowded chaos. She had liked the atmosphere, but she found she did her best thinking when she was alone.

"Oh yeah," Ragna said pulling her out of her thoughts once again, "Two messengers came by for you. I have their messages here." She handed her two rolled up scrolls.

The first message was from the attorney of a person they had interviewed during a case a month ago. The case had been solved, but the wife of the culprit, who was a baker in the food district of the capital city, was arguing that she had not received all of her rights when she had been interviewed. She had been told her rights, though. She had interviewed this woman herself. It had been her own stupidity that led to them finding out her husband was a murderer, not her lack of justice. The crime sector had several permanent lawyers whose job it was to deal with situations like this specifically. She would give this message to Ingrid, one of the youngest and brightest attorney's at her disposal, and have her take care of it.

The second message written by Stieg, the red haired guard who worked in the dungeons, but was really a message from Odin himself:

_On behalf of the All-Father, and all the guards who work in the dungeons, we would like to offer our condolences and apologies about the incident that took place in Prince Loki's cell the day before yesterday. The endangerment of one of the All-Father's young and loyal subjects is not a matter that he takes lightly. He begs your forgiveness, and swears that he in no way asked you to be in charge of the prince's chains because he thought that the Prince would behave because of your age and gender. He would have never taken that chance with your life. He also wishes that you will reconsider your refusal to return and instead be in charge of the prince's chains full time; that is, whenever he needs to be chained to leave his cell. The All-Father rewards his loyal subjects._

She read the message thrice: once to glean the information it offered, the second because she couldn't believe she had a message from the All-Father himself, and a third time because something about it didn't seem quite right.

Even though the message stated the exact opposite, she felt like that's exactly what the All-Father was doing when he wanted her to put on prince Loki's chains. The All-Father had hoped his wild son would be tame for her, and thus save him some trouble.

It made her angry to think about.

She worked in the dungeons often, following around her mentors, studying criminal thought processes, interviewing suspects, and the like.

So she hadn't been _too_ surprised when the All-Father asked her to be in charge of putting on Prince Loki's chains. She had often spoken to the All-Father before and received small, similar requests from him.

But she _had_ been surprised that she was in charge of chaining and unchaining someone as dangerous as Prince Loki Odinson was. But she had trusted the All-Father, and assumed that it would be all right. She found her trust in their leader somewhat shaken now, and cross at the situation.

She was angry thinking that her mug was broke, that the All-Father thought she was a weak and stupid girl, angry when she thought of Stieg's grey eyes, and angriest of all when she remembered the cruel, smirking, enigmatic, beautiful, emerald green eyes of the man who had threatened to kill her yesterday. The eyes that she couldn't stop thinking about.

"Ragna," she said, "These blood samples are 12 months old, and these are 18 months old, and these samples are from years ago, and they all belong to the wife. I suspect that she and her husband have been having domestic disputes longer than he has said. Give this information to Osmund, as well as these blood samples; they should help him clear the case."

She carefully picked up the pieces of her mug, thought for a moment, and then threw them into the waste burner.

Would it be a blow to her pride to return to chaining the fallen prince? Or would be weaker of her to deny the All-Father's request because of the way he had intentionally disregarded her safety?

In the end, neither of those questions she put to herself mattered. Her decision was already made.

She found the fallen prince intriguing, and wanted to see him again.


	5. Chapter 4: Introductions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel, or Loki**

**Chapter 4: Introductions **

Their second meeting went much better than their first, in her opinion.

Even high-risk prisoners had to leave their cells sometimes. On occasion they needed to be out so that their cells could be cleaned, or they needed to be questioned further about past crimes, or see a doctor, etc. But Loki would never again be allowed above the dungeons. He would never again see the sunlight, hear an owl hooting at night, feel cold snowflakes melting on his face during the first snowfall of winter. _Or see his mother ever again_. A sad thought, she couldn't help but think, as she walked down the long dark hallways that she was used to by now, escorted by Stieg and two other guards before being ushered into Loki's cell.

Today, Loki was seeing one of the head jailers, an older man named Jarl, for reasons she did not know.

As she walked into his cell, he was pacing slowly up and down the width of the room. He seemed rather restless.

That made her nervous.

He stopped when they came into his cell. He met her gaze with a stiff gesture, devoid of any emotion that she was familiar with.

The tension in the air between the two of them and between Loki and the guards was tangible_._

_The last time I was this close to him,_ she thought as she looked at his menacing figure, _he almost strangled me to help himself escape. _

She could only hope that whatever compassionate feeling he had had that had stopped him from killing her the last time his chains were off would save her again if he tried anything today.

She walked up to him slowly and gently took one of his long arms in her hands and started handcuffing his wrists together.

He seemed tame enough, for the moment. His body was here, but she got the feeling his mind was elsewhere.

She did not have to step on his feet this time to fasten his collar around his neck; he surprised her by bending down when he saw that she was about to put it on. She was astonished he was paying enough attention to do so; he appeared too deep in thought to notice his surroundings.

When she was done he silently waited for them to lead him out of his cell, where they all went down five hallways to the small room where Jarl worked most days. When they reached their destination, she saw the prince look up at the ceiling.

She wondered if he had hoped that this excursion would have taken them up a few flights of stairs, and closer to the world he used to know.

She waited outside while Loki went inside with the guards who held the chains to his belt.

After they had been in there for a few minutes, she sat down on the floor and leaned against a nearby pillar, the fatigue from her long night of work and inability to find time to sleep crashing down on her.

She wondered if Ragna had given Osmond her messages. She wondered if he were at the man's house right now arresting him. She wondered how her mother's date with that singer she met last week went. She wondered if her grandfather was enjoying his trip to the sea. She wondered if that sweet boy in her class with the curly blond hair asked her what her name was because he was planning on borrowing her notes, or if he was planning on asking her to have dinner with him. She wondered what Jarl was talking to the prince about. She wandered what prince Loki was thinking about that had him so deep in thought…

…

She jolted out of the dream she was having when she felt someone shaking her.

She glanced up and saw Steig, the other two guards, and the prince all looking down at her.

She hoped she hadn't been snoring.

"Sorry." She muttered groggily.

Steig offered her his hand as he helped her unsteadily stand up.

When she was on her feet they began walking back to the Loki's cell. She caught the prince looking at her on the walk back; a small half-smile framed his pale face, although it still did not reach his eyes.

He said nothing when she caught him staring, but did not look away either.

They all walked back to the cell in silence.

When they re-entered Loki's cell, she thought she heard the prince give a small sigh, although it did not sound like one of relief.

When she reached up with both of her hands to unfasten his collar, her violet eyes met his intense green ones.

He surprised her by speaking directly to her for the first time.

"I apologize for my behavior the other day, my lady."

She looked down and quickly gave a small nod. There was something very severe about the prince, what exactly it was she could not say. But having both his eyes and his words directed at her for the first time was a surprisingly overwhelming experience. She continued to avoid his gaze until he spoke again, forcing her to look up.

"My name is Loki." he joked.

"Yes, I've heard." She stated ridiculously obviously, a result of her nerves.

To himself, Loki silently doubted that Odin would agree the term "highness" should still be used when addressing him, but who was he to correct any ideas the girl had?

"Well of course you have. Who hasn't?" When she did not laugh he added, "May I ask whose lovely neck I had the pleasure of strangling the other day?" his bright green eyes sparkling with amusement.

She unfastened his handcuffs, always the last chains she took off, and started to follow the other guards out of his cell without answering him.

As she was about to close the door, she stopped for a moment and considered the proud, dark prince who had just apologized to her.

She half turned her body, and shot him a serious look.

"My name is Lorelai. But everyone calls me Lora."

She started to leave again when he quickly said, "Alright…Lorelai."

This time the smile reached his eyes.


	6. Chapter 5: Recollections

Diclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel.

**Chapter 5: Recollections**

Loki remembered one summer he spent with his family by the sea.

It was when he was very young, Asgard was prospering and peaceful, and his father felt safe enough to leave the capital in the hands of his trusted advisors, and take his wife and two young sons to a smaller sea-side palace that had belonged to the royal family for generations.

Loki had hated those months by the sea. It had been beautiful, but he had hated every moment of it. Even on vacation his father had been busy writing and talking with diplomats and emissaries. His mother had been busy as well. She had spent almost every summer when she was a child by the sea, and was catching up with all of her childhood friends.

Thor loved the sea. He spent every minute out playing in the water or in the sand with the other children. Thor was very suited to the climate; indeed he seemed to thrive on it.

Loki, not so much. His idea of a perfect trip to the sea was quite different. Perhaps a sea with rocky beaches and cliffs, more to the north. Where it was dark and cold and the sky constantly threatened a storm. Or, perhaps a trip to the mountains during the winter, when everything was covered in snow and he could spend the whole day working inside at his magic or his books.

As it was he became very sick his first day at the sea. The heat made him nauseous and the sun burned his skin. His mother told him it was sun poisoning and that he needed to stay indoors for a while until he felt better, and then only go outside in moderation. He couldn't remember ever being that sick. It hurt him to touch anything. But eventually he got tired of staying indoors while he heard the other children playing outside. Also, he resented being told what to do, which was what ultimately brought him back outside. Going back outdoors made him feel even more ill, but it was like a compulsion with him.

The only thing he enjoyed about the ocean was the sand; it fascinated him. It was so soft and bright; he loved picking it up and watching it fall through his pale fingers. He wondered how many grains of sand there were, and he attempted to count every grain. He spent hours everyday separating each grain he had counted, one by one, and placing them in little colored glass bottles that he had found in the attic. When he had enough bottles, he was going to pour them all out into a pile, measure the dimensions, and with that measurement use it to find out how many grains there were in the entire beach.

They left before he could finish. He still got sick however when he thought about those long hours he spent in the heat counting each grain. How long, mind numbing, and tedious it had been, not to mention the headaches that had resulted from it.

That boredom was nothing to his life now. He spent every waking hour staring at the wall of his cell, at the ceiling, and at his own frightening reflection when he dared to look in the reflective glass. He had been a man of action. Always reading, learning new magic, riding or practicing his fighting and archery with Thor and his friends. He had taken for-granted the freedom he had had. Not a care in the world, and all the time and energy in the universe at his disposal. He remembered how sometimes he would wake up and in the spur of a moment saddle his horse and ride into the forest or the mountains for a few days all to himself. He had found many an interesting thing; a hidden waterfall that sprinkled into a hot spring, the top of a hill covered with bright red flowers and a single oak tree with branches perfect for lounging on.

He remembered the large library in the palace that he had spent so much of his time in, and the secret basement underneath that he had spent even more of his time in to practice his magic, and then the darker magic that he had known his parents would not approve of.

There was so much that he missed about his old life.

And remembering the startled face of the girl who put on his chains when she had woken up on the floor made him miss the opposite sex. Women were something he had not had the time to think about for so long now, but before his life had become so complicated, he had enjoyed the occasional midnight excursion with attractive members of Asgardian society. It had often been infuriating, his attempts to seduce the opposite sex, because they all so plainly wanted his attractive older brother. But many less-ambitious women just wanted to be loved by a prince, even if it was the pale, menacing one. And he hadn't minded, young prince that he was. Well, he had but it hadn't stopped him from climbing in and then out of their windows at night when he was invited.

Until he saw Sif for the first time with older eyes. She had spent a year apprenticing to a renowned warrior in a distant city, and when she came back he had found her much changed. He had grown up with her and played with her as a child, but it wasn't until they were both older that he looked at her once and couldn't look away. Sif was smart, beautiful, witty, and strong. The more he noticed her the more virtues he found she had. It was the first and only time he had ever been in love. He knew if he married her she would be a perfect princess, poised and smart enough to never bring shame upon the royal family, and he didn't believe he would ever be unhappy if he could wake up to her every morning and know she was his.

The trouble was, that like almost everything in his life, his brother had the upper hand, because Sif only had eyes for Thor.

When he realized this he disguised his love for her with malice, and her dislike for Loki grew to such an extent that she wouldn't stay in the same room with him unless Thor were in it, too.

_"__He thinks of you like a brother, you know. Not even a sister. I heard him say once that you were too masculine to ever be a wife or a mother. Not that he thinks about you that way." He had whispered in her ear during a feast, both of their eyes on the Golden Prince who was standing up to give a toast. _

_"__Well at least he thinks of me like a brother. You don't seem like you are really his brother at all. You're weak, cowardly, and bitter." She had retorted, but he saw in her eyes that his words had hurt her. _

When she had begged him to bring his banished brother back from Earth, that was when his love had turned to hate. She would follow that idiot to Jotunheim to start a war, but she wouldn't follow him as the rightful king. Well, she could follow Thor to Earth and die with him there for all he cared. He wondered what she was doing now, right this minute. Probably still making mooneyes at Thor. Well the joke was on her, because as far as he knew his brother was still smitten with that Midgardian scientist, Jane Foster. He couldn't decide what was worse, the thought of his brother marrying Sif, or the thought of Thor marrying a human.

…..

A month passed before she came in to chain him again.

He didn't speak to her this time, nor she to him, but for the first time he watched her. Really _watched_ her.

He noticed that her braided bun was slightly more frizzy than usual and her boots were a little muddier than normal, perhaps the result of rain.

Her dark blue dress was nice, expensive enough that she probably belonged to one of Asgard's wealthier families, but practical enough that she probably worked in it.

She was slower than most people, he observed from her measured and quiet movements, although her mind was sharp.

When she realized one of the links was broken on the chains between his collar and his handcuffs, she didn't hesitate to take a different one out of the loser chains around his feet and replace it.

He discovered that she drew her eyebrows together when she worked.

He discovered that she enjoyed working.

He discovered that from the ink on her hands, which stained his own when she would gently reach out and hold one while putting on his handcuffs, she spent a lot of time writing.

He discovered that she blushed easily, which happened mostly when she caught him looking at her.

He discovered that he enjoyed looking at her.


	7. Chapter 6: Opinions

Diclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel.

**Chapter 6: Opinions**

Asgard was beautiful in the winter. People wore their fine coats and the streets were cleaner and less crowded because of the weather. A fine snow dusted over all of the buildings, including the giant palace that became a shiny white beacon on the skyline. Trees lost their leaves and flowers did too, but winter roses and holly came into bloom.

All of the lakes froze over.

_My favorite thing about the season_, Lora thought as she glided across the ice. It was a beautiful winter night, all of the stars were out, and she was the only one out on the University's frozen-over pond. Up until about an hour ago it had seemed that half of the students at the Asgardian University had been skating on the pond, but slowly the numbers had dwindled as the snow fell heavier and heavier until she was the last one left.

Around midnight she decided that she had better return to her dormitory to study.

Her roommates were both up studying as well, which was fortunate, Lora thought. She hated to have a lamp lit when other people were trying to sleep, and her particular roommates weren't exactly shy about letting her know when they were irritated.

"Hello," breathless and rosy cheeked from the cold, she greeted her roommates who were sitting on the floor across from each other, heads buried in two copies of the same textbook.

Dagny and Erica, the blond identical twins who were Lora's best friends, did most things together. This included taking the exact same classes and studying for the same tests at the exact same time.

"How were your days?"

"Dagny, how many hours do you think people have wasted all together exchanging pleasantries while trying to study or work?" She asked without looking up.

"Too many, Erica." Answered her twin, also not looking up.

"Point taken," Lora said, and grabbed her own textbook and sat down next to them.

...

Lora's mother, Helga, poured her a glass of wine as they both settled onto her mother's terrace.

Below, they had a beautiful view of some gardens to the west, and far away on the horizon snow capped mountains could be seen decorating the skyline.

"So how is school Lora?" she asked first, as she always did, when her daughter came home for a visit.

"It's very good. My grades are good, my roommates are good, and I'm good."

"Your grades are_ perfect_ I'm sure." Her mother said gazing out at the view. Below, some gardeners could be seen tending to the winter roses.

Education had always been very important to her mother. Helga had been a very successful scholar herself before becoming a successful merchant in Lora's grandfather's company. Having a daughter at a very young age and being a single parent had been just a minor setback against Helga's determined nature.

"I am having a little trouble in _Advanced Sympathetic Magic." _Lora added cautiously. "In fact, I may have to drop the class if I don't do better on the next exam."

Her mother didn't say anything. She had never let quitting be an option for Lora; she encouraged her daughter to try her hardest to succeed. But she understood that Lora in particular had little chance for success in a magic class.

Lora couldn't practice magic. It was something they tried to avoid talking about, because it brought up painful feelings on both sides.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you if you've seen the prince." Her mother asked to change the subject.

"Of course. I go through the palace all the time to get to the prisons, I've glimpsed Thor many times."

"I mean the other prince. The evil one."

"The evil one?"

"The trickster, Loki."

"Oh. Well, yes, I've seen him too."

"What is he like, this dark prince that has caused Odin so much trouble?" her mother asked lazily but curiously as she leaned back into her ornate cushioned chair.

Lora struggled for words. She tried to avoid thinking about the trickster god, because whenever she thought about him she felt confused.

"I think he is ruthless, ambitious, and very intelligent."

"And lonely." She added after a moment's hesitation.

"Those sons of Odin's have caused more chaos in this realm since before the war with Jotunheim during the beginning of the All-Father's reign. It's a pity he didn't make an example of Loki and finally give him proper justice for his crimes."

"What do you mean?" Lora asked, turning her gaze away from the view and back to her mother, confused.

"Well," he mother raised her glass to her lips again before continuing, "people are saying that the only reason he wasn't killed is because of his mother's interference. It's not fair, in my opinion. I've heard he really is too dangerous to be spared. Don't you agree?"

Lora thought about the small half-smile the prince had given her the last time she had seen him, and of how he had let her live even though it had potentially ruined a way of escape for himself.

"I don't know. For some people, prison can be worse than death." She tried not to sound like the subject was that important to her; she didn't want her mother to be concerned about why.

"Well," her mother said smiling and raising her glass in a toast, "here's to Prince Loki's rehabilitation. Or else All-Father help us if he ever escapes."

As Lora raised the glass to her lips her mother quickly added, "We don't want him trying to destroy Midgard again."

"No." Lora said. Then it was her turn to try to change the subject.


	8. Chapter 7: Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 7: Questions**

Their acquaintance became somewhat of a routine over the next few weeks.

She would come, chain him, follow to wherever he was escorted, and unchain him when he returned to his cell. For the most part they didn't say anything to each other, but the more time passed the more she noticed he seemed to be trying to make an effort to engage her in conversation. She always tried her best to ignore his intrusive questions, knowing that it was her duty to herself and to the All-Father to remain detached from the prisoner. Sometimes it was hard for her to ignore him, feeling that he must be lonely indeed to try to talk to her, for he didn't seem to be the kind of person who would engage in chit-chat with the average person.

...

"Are you in school?" he asked Lora one day.

No Answer.

_Smirk_. "I bet you are."

...

On a different day he asked her, "What subjects are you studying in school?"

No Answer.

...

A week later he asked, "You have blood on your sleeve. Did you fight someone or do you apprentice for a butcher?"

No Answer.

...

"Would you like to another magic trick?"(This was a few days later)

That was hard for her; she had loved his first display of magic, but again no answer.

...

"Are you afraid of me?" he asked her one day, but not for the first time.

That was easier for her to ignore, because that was a loaded question that she wasn't sure she knew how to answer now.

...

One morning he got a response.

"Why won't you speak with me? Is it because you don't like me, or because you're frightened of me?" After a short pause he added with a mischievous smile, "or are you frightened that you _will_ like me?"

Answer: "I wish you would stop. Yes, I don't like you. And I don't want to talk to you because I don't like you. So please stop."

"You can't dislike me if you don't know me. And you can't know me unless you speak to me."

"Listen," she finally answered one day, "I know you're lonely. I realize that. But part of your punishment as decreed by the All-Father is for you to remain in solitary confinement, and that means not speaking to anyone unless you are asked to. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is."

He gave her a long stare for a moment before completely disregarding everything she had just said.

"What book is that in your bag?'

She let out a sigh.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"That book, in your bag over there by the door, what is it?"

"Um… it is _Advanced Sympathetic Magic. _Why?

"You're in professor Avanthy's class, aren't you." It wasn't a question, although it was phrased like one. She noticed it was one of prince Loki's habits; to ask a question that he already knew the answer to.

"….Yes. How did you know that?"

"I've spent my fair share of time haunting lectures at the University. That is a difficult class. At this point in the semester I bet you're starting to struggle a bit aren't you?"

"I'm not failing."

"I bet you don't have 100% either do you perfectionist?"

She said nothing. She was once again astonished at how acute he was, not just about the class, but also about her own personality.

His eyes sparkled when he read in her face that he was right. "Would you like to do better?" He asked slowly and meaningfully, sounding for all the world like an untrustworthy genie.

"How?" She asked just as slowly.

"I could help you. Tutor you. I know everything in that book and more. You could bring your book sometime and stop by."

She had finished taking off his last chains. She stood there holding his handcuffs and glancing back and forth between her bag with her schoolbook and the expectant prince in front of her.

She shifted her weight to another side nervously.

"I don't know."

"I don't bite. Not unless you ask me to, at least."

She believed him.

But she still said, "That sounds like a bad idea. And I need to be going now. Good day, your highness." And left quickly before she had the chance to let his soft voice and clever words tempt her to stay longer.

"See you soon, Lorelai."


	9. Chapter 8: Sorceries

Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, nothing is for profit.

**Chapter 8: Sorceries**

He didn't hear her come in to his cell, but wasn't surprised the next morning when he looked up from a book his mother had sent to see Lora standing in front of his cell door.

She was wearing a short green school dress, with tall brown boots and her hair up in a tight intricately braided bun. She was clutching her textbook so tightly to her chest he was surprised that it hadn't split in two.

"I only need help on one question, I just would like for you to please answer it quickly, and I am going to be on my way." she told him.

His answer was a smirk and a bow as he pulled out one of two chairs for her to sit down at the table he had inside his cell (Courtesy of his mother).

He casually mentioned that he liked her dress, he told her it was a nice color on her as he pushed her chair back to the table when she had sat down, but she ignored the comment and got strait to business.

"Alright. So I know all of the technical information for this class, I've practically memorized this textbook; taking a written test won't be a problem. The problem is that at the end of the semester the teacher requires-

"-a demonstration of magical application." Loki could recall some of the disastrous demonstrations that students of the past had made. He remembered someone who was attempting to cloak a piece of fruit with an invisibility spell and ended up vanishing their own hand. One person, attempting to change the language in a book with a translation spell, ended up only being able to speak that language. He could also recall someone once going blind, and although he didn't see it, didn't someone once actually die? Didn't he hear about that somewhere?

Yes, he had observed these pitiful attempts at sorcery, and their epic failures. They were among his fondest memories. Only a select few had the power to truly use magic, it was an abomination to make these weaklings try.

"You know?" she asked surprised.

"Indeed I do. What about the demonstration do you need help with?"

"Everything."

Loki let out a deep breath. "I see. You struggle with using magic? Well, to be honest with you, it's only the people who aim beyond their reach that end up doing poorly. Stick with something simple, perhaps stopping the sand in an hourglass, or changing the color in a jar of ink. Your professor will be impressed with any amount of magic, no matter how small, as long as it is done correctly."

"It's not that I struggle, I can't do it. Nothing. Not even the simplest spell in this book."

"Not even one?" he asked, the disdain evident in his voice.

"No, there are some people who just can't do certain things, you know, and that's something I just don't have a talent for."

"Well that's…pathetic."

She stood up sharply, her purple eyes glaring. "I thought you were going to help, me not insult me."

"How can I teach a bird to fly when it has no wings?"

She turned her face away sharply so he wouldn't see her eyes start to water. She was sensitive about her inability to do magic, and she didn't need this from him.

As she gathered up her textbook he, still sitting, wrapped one of his long pale hands around her skinny arm and pulled her back down into her seat, sharply.

"Don't worry my dear, I can still help you. There's only one thing that I am better at than magic. Do you know what it is?"

She shook her said.

"Lying." he said smiling.

"What are you saying?" she asked suspiciously.

"I can show you how to make your professor think that you performed magic, quite efficiently."

"Cheating? No, I couldn't do that. It wouldn't be fair to everyone else in class. And I could get in a lot of trouble if I get caught. I could get expelled."

"So don't get caught." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Before she stopped to think she found herself retorting, "Oh, like that's something you know about."

He froze. And when she dared look up at him his teeth were clenched and his eyes were two blocks of green ice staring at her.

"What did you just say?"

She didn't respond, but kept looking at him with what she hoped was a non-threatening expression on her face.

"You don't know anything you ignorant little twit."

"I'm sorry," she said hesitantly, "I wasn't trying to upset you. Please, tell me how to fake this experiment. I would like to know."

He calmed down enough to raise an eyebrow at her and tell her a list of things she would need, how to get them, and what to do with them.

"And you're sure this will work?" she asked when she had written down what he had told her to get.

"Don't ever question my judgment."

"Well I can't promise you that, but if you say this will work, I will believe you."

"If it doesn't work the first time, you have months to perfect it until the end of the term."

"O.K. I suppose I should be going now."

They stood up at the same time and he walked with her to the door of his cell.

"Um.. Loki?"

He stared down at her questioningly.

"Before I go, could you, um…" she trailed off feeling ridiculous.

"What is it?" he said, curiosity written plain on his face.

"Well… could you show me some real magic, before I go? Just once?" Among the most popular rumors that circled about the second prince was his absolute mastery of magic. Although he often put his abilities to devious use, he was said to be vastly skilled all the same.

A bright smile grew on his face as he closed both of his hands together. When he opened them up, imaginary fireflies came out and lit up the room around them like a thousand little glowing candles.

She involuntarily breathed out a quiet gasp of excitement and stared wide-eyed up around the room. "Amazing." she said as she stared up at him still wide-eyed and open mouthed in wonder. "And they are just illusions?"

His smile grew wider at witnessing her amazement. He was pleased with her reaction, to say the least. Loki had always loved it when people admired his skills. "Yes, but before you go, I'll leave you with something real."

He instructed her to open her hand, and he reached out gently to take her small hand in his large one. He took his other hand and closed both of his hands around her one.

For a minute he just stared at her, while he held her hand. She locked eyes with him and waited patiently for him to do something.

"This I made specially for you." he said softly before releasing her eyes and hand.

When she opened it up, there was a small pebble in her palm.

She was confused and somewhat worried looking at the little pebble, wondering what that could mean, or if it was somehow dangerous. But she thanked him politely all the same before leaving for the day.

…..

She took the pebble out of her pocket that night when she went to sleep, and put it on the table by her bed.

When she had woken up, the pebble had turned into a beautifully delicate rose, complete with stem and thorns.

When she opened her window to let light into her room, and saw that the rose was a bright, rich violet; the exact color of her eyes.


	10. Chapter 9: Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel. This story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 9: Questions**

"Do you know that I saw you once before?"

"What?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, it was when I was just a little girl…" she said keeping her eyes and attention on her homework.

She was visiting him in his cell once again; it had been happening more and more lately.

She had brought her books and some paper, and was quietly taking notes. She was trying to keep her attention on her schoolwork, while his attention was on her.

His chair was very close to hers as he sat with his head in his hand; he alternated between reading over her shoulder and watching her work.

"Go on." He said, picking up the ends of her curly black hair, and twirling it around on his fingers.

"Well," she said, still writing, "like I said, I was very young, and there was some celebration going on, a parade or anniversary or something, I really can't remember now, and your family was standing on the city square. Your mother and father and brother were there, along with you."

She glanced up to see if he was listening, and seeing that he was, looked back down at her paper and continued.

"I think it was in the summer. You all looked magnificent. I had a nice view because my grandfather was holding me on his shoulders. Your mother was absolutely beautiful; your father larger than life. He was saying something in that powerful voice of his, but I couldn't really understand because I was too young. I remember I was just looking at the princes."

Amused, he asked her, "And what did you think of the princes?" while trying to think back to when this was.

"Their outfits were beautiful, almost as beautiful as they themselves were."

"Really?" he said smiling; showing all of his teeth.

"Yes, really, you narcissist."

"Who was the most handsome?"

"Oh, Odin, hands down."

"What!" he said laughing, still tugging on her curl.

Her purple eyes twinkled with humor. "Oh, yes, give me white hair, a beard and an eye patch any day."

Loki was so amused at her mockery of Odin, that he was willing to let her off the hook from answering the question seriously. But he still wanted to know a little more.

He was silent for a moment, watching Lora, and thinking.

"What did you think of me?" asked her quietly.

She drew her eyebrows close together, as she always did when she was thinking hard, trying to remember.

"I thought how different you were from Thor, like night and day, light and darkness. He was so sunny and golden, shouting and waving his hands around, and you were so calm and silent, with your black hair and pale skin." She paused for a moment, deciding on whether or not she should say what she was thinking. She supposed she might as well. "You seemed to have been upset about something."

_With good reason_, Loki thought, finally remembering what occasion this was.

It had been the day that Odin had announced to all of Asgard that Thor would be the next king. _One of the worst days of my life_. But he didn't want to talk about it so instead he said, "Aren't I always?"

She gave a soft laugh. "No. You aren't upset now, are you?"

When he told her, "Right at this moment, no." his voice got a little huskier and lower, but she didn't notice.

"It's funny, I remember that-" she stopped before continuing, realizing what she was about to say would assuredly upset him; with the effect of his good humor she had forgotten for a moment how sensitive he was about his brother, Thor.

"What?" he said.

"Nothing. I forgot what I was about to say."

"You're a wickedly awful liar." He said smirking, and, grabbing her textbook, declared that she was not getting it back until she told him.

"I just-well… when I first saw you, my first impression of you was how short you were."

He raised an eyebrow at her, looking down from his great height.

"I know you're not short, I just… thought you were at first…. because… I guess, because you were standing next to…" she trailed off, red-faced and ashamed.

"I see." He slowly handed her book back to her. With narrowed eyes he left the table and started to walk away.

"Wait." She said scrambling to get up and follow him. "Loki," she said grabbing his arm, "I'm sorry. What I'm trying to say is that, I made all these assumptions about you, comparing you to your brother, but I didn't even know."

"Didn't know what?" he said turning his cold gaze back to her face.

"Just that, well… I didn't know, how you really were, until I spent some time with you."

He gave her a strange look: a mix between a smile and a frown. She didn't know what to make of it. If her answer had pleased him, he still appeared to have something on his mind. He turned his gaze back to staring out at the dark halls outside of his cell.

"You're good." He said, still looking away. She was the only other person in his cell, aside from the guards outside who may or may not be able to hear what they were saying, but she got the feeling that Loki was talking to himself.

Lora walked up to him and took his hand, dragging him back to the table.

"Come on, Loki. Come show me another illusion. I want to see what the light-elves of Alfheim look like."

….

"Mother, can I ask you something?"

"Of course! But first, try this piece and tell me what you think of it!

Before she could say anything Helga, her mother, crammed her mouth full of something warm and sugary.

They were walking through the streets tonight, snacking at intervals on a bag of treats they had just bought at a shop that sold desserts.

After chewing something sweet and sticky, and once again telling her mother that it tasted divine along with the rest of the things that she was pulling out of her bag, she again tried to get her mother to concentrate, "Mother, please I need you to take your attention off of the candy for a moment."

"Well that's easier said than done, honey." her mother, Helga, added before distractedly pulling something else out of the bag.

Lora grabbed her mother's arm and pulled their nightly stroll to a stop on a large shimmering Asgardian-bridge. Lora could see many couples huddling close together for warmth on this cold winter evening while they enjoyed the view of the river below.

"Do you think that, people can change? Like criminals I mean? Not people who commit petty horse thievery, but like, murder and stuff?" The question was a change from the usual lighthearted conversation that she usually had with her busy mother.

Her mother raised an eyebrow at her daughter before turning her gaze to the murky waters beneath. "Hmm. I'm not sure. What brought this on, Lora? Do you have something on your mind?"

Lora looked down and stared at the river where her mother was gazing. "We fished a body out of this river a few days ago. It was a teacher who had been missing for a month. We haven't discovered what happened yet…Do you think what I do has a point?"

"Honey, of course it does!" You've given hundreds of people peace of mind by finding out what happened to their loved ones! And you've saved many innocent people. Like that Captain's missing baby."

"I know, but sometimes I just feel like whenever we catch a criminal, it's just a waste; they won't change, although killing them may not be right because sometimes they do."

"You've spent too much time at the lab. Let's forget about this and think about what you should wear to your grandfather's dinner party."

With that, her mother took her arm and they resumed their stroll down the street and Lora and her mother spoke about things that had lately seemed less and less important.

…..

After leaving her mother and returning back to her dorm, she lifted up the basket of envelopes under the slot in their door, and took out the letters that were addressed to her.

The first was a complaint letter for she, Dagny and Erica, the three people that lived in this suite. All three of them studied science at the university, and as such, chemical explosions and accidents did happen. The letter was from their neighbor, complaining that they had been woken three times in the last two weeks from university fire assistants coming to put out fires in their dorm.

It seemed like it might be time to move to an off-campus apartment where people were more understanding of the scientific process.

The next message was from her assistant, Ragna. Osmund and the some of the other investigators had a few blood samples that they wanted her to analyze as soon as possible.

The third message was from her grandfather. She hadn't visited in a while and he wanted to know how she and her mother were doing. He reminded her what time the dinner party was going to start. He also reminded her that if she wanted to bring along a nice young man, she was more than welcome too.

Folding up her grandfather's message, she let out a soft sigh. She didn't, couldn't, wouldn't date, and her grandfather knew that, and he knew why. She wished she could catch a break from him about the dating. Besides, weren't grandfathers supposed to want to chase their granddaughters' suitors off the front porch with a spear? Or was that fathers? If it were, Lora sure wouldn't know.

Speaking of fathers, her last message was from her father, Harald. Lora started to open it, and then thought better. Instead she held it up to the candle and watched it burn. She still wasn't ready to speak to him yet.

She had mixed feelings as she walked out of the common room and back to her bedroom. Her father and mother and been married for only three years before splitting up. And she couldn't remember a time when they had been a family in the traditional since, but she had lived with her mother who had been more than enough for her. She had seen her father often and had looked forward to their pleasant time together, until his last visit.

After she had heard what he had to tell her last time, she had avoided him; that had been over 4 years ago. Since then he had been traveling for work, so she hadn't needed to see him.

She went to bed wandering if her father was finally back in town, and fell asleep staring at the purple rose in the flowerpot on her bedside table.


	11. Chapter 10: Interruptions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel. This story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 10: Interruptions**

Above the sounds of clinking glasses and the murmur of low conversation, Lora finally heard her mother's voice above the crowd.

As she made her way through the throng of guests, most all of them being friends of her grandfather's, she walked up to the front door to find her mother handing a servant her overcoat.

Underneath, her mother was wearing a long red dress that complimented her brown hair and red lipstick. It was exceedingly elegant, strapless and open in the back. Lora's dress was made of the same material, albeit a dark purple color with sleeves that fell below her shoulders and with long purple gloves. She was glad that the dress was long enough to hide the lab boots she was wearing underneath; Lora had forgotten to bring her heels and she had come straight from the lab.

Lora was happy to see that her mother had remembered that they had agreed to fix their hair a certain way.

They had each piled their hair up intricately on their heads' and had agreed to wear sticks in their hair. Helga's hair sticks were decorated with porcelain iris flowers, matching the color of Lora's dress. Lora's hair sticks were decorated with porcelain roses, matching the red of her mother's dress.

At least fixing her hair was _something_ that Helga had remembered.

"You. Are. Late." Lora said whispering through clenched teeth.

Her mother didn't stop to speak to her; but kept walking through the room to the party, leaving Lora to scramble after her.

Helga finally stopped to speak to her daughter after reaching her destination; the refreshment tables.

"Well I had a lot of work to do today, and we had a merchant's guild meeting, so there was that."

As excuses went, Lora thought that one was lame.

"Couldn't you have left early, and told everyone that you needed to go so that you could arrive to the dinner party on time therefore making sure your daughter wasn't left alone at a party with a bunch of people she doesn't know?" Lora said, watching her mother pick up grapes, one by one, and drop them into her clutch bag.

"Well, I feel like there was something else, but I'm having trouble remembering." Helga paused, glancing around the tables. "Where is that special raspberry wine your grandfather always has at his parties?"

Apparently Helga was not going to be functional tonight until her taste buds were satisfied.

Lora sighed.

"I don't know. I looked earlier and couldn't find any."

"What?! This is ridiculous! There's no other reason to come to these parties. Oh, wait, look Lora, I see a servant carrying some around on a dish."

Her mother took her arm and walked them into middle of the room where they stopped the servant.

After Helga had taken two glasses off the plate, one for her and one for Lora, and had a few sips, a look of recognition crossed her face.

"I remember now why I was so late. When I was walking over here, there was a big crowd stopped in front of the tavern."

She took a few more sips of her glass, then continued.

"Apparently," Helga said, her eyes shining with excitement, "Prince Thor has returned from Vanaheim, along with the warriors three. I heard that they have finished their work and that all of the raiders are defeated. The realms are at peace now. Isn't that nice?" her mother asked her, seeming as if she had not even known the nine realms were at war.

Lora's first thought was that Loki was not going to be happy about his brother's return, but instead she just answered, "Yes, it is."

"Well, anyway, now you know why your mother was late. Let's go join the party now, I bet the others are also speaking of Prince Thor's return."

…..

The party went well on into the hours of the night.

Around midnight, Lora, her grandfather, and three prominent Asgardian landowners were all standing together near the fire.

They had been discussing the trade market between the realms, and then briefly the upcoming convergence, and then one of the women had mentioned that they had heard that Lora's father, Harald, had returned to Asgard as well, his work in Muspelheim finished.

"Quite the explorer, that Harald. I've heard a rumor that the All-Father might make him one of the most powerful men in the realm soon." said a man standing near.

"Well," the woman continued laughing, "I'm sure his wife and children will be thrilled to hear about that."

Lora and her grandfather immediately stiffened. When the woman was talking about Harald's wife and children, she was not talking about Lora and her mother.

After Harald had left her mother and herself when Lora was still young, he had remarried less than a year after, to a beautiful woman from one of Vanaheim's most powerful families. So far they had had five beautiful and intelligent children together. None of this was why Lora had been avoiding her father, but it still hurt very much, because Lora and her mother and grandfather all suspected that Lora had been the reason that her father had left.

"Oh my," said the woman, realizing why Lora and her grandfather had suddenly become so uncomfortable. "I am so sorry, I forgot for a moment to whom I was speaking. It was just awful, your father up and leaving you and your dear mother like that..."

Lora didn't wait for the woman to finish, but gently set her glass down with one of her gloved hands, and walked away from the discussion.

She walked as quickly to the door as she could, trying to get outside before the tears started falling.

….

Loki was, as usual, up at night.

He had never needed much sleep, but now that he had nothing else to do, he especially loathed it. He had spent way too much time this past year or so lying on the bed in his cell.

He was sitting on the floor leaning against his bed and counting the glittering squares on the glass of his cell wall, when he heard footsteps.

When the footsteps came near to his cell, he started to stand up, and was shocked when the door to his cell was flown open to reveal Lorelai standing in his door way.

As if things weren't confusing enough, she was dressed like, well, like a princess. She was wearing a long purple dress with small sleeves that fell well below her creamy white shoulders, and she had on long dress gloves and her hair was piled up on the top of her head. She looked like she had just been to a wedding. Everything looked so formal. Everything except her shoes. _Are those boots I see? _he thought.

Maybe the strangest part of all was that there were tears streaming down her beautiful face.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, until he could no longer bear it.

"Well," he said stepping closer, "you're dressed very nice."

His lighthearted comment was lost on her as she flew to him and threw her arms around his waist.

Burying her head in his chest, her body was shaking and she was sobbing so furiously that she sounded like she was choking.

_Oh. Dear. _he thought, his arms outstretched and not touching her. He had not felt this uncomfortable since he had been defeated by the Avengers on Midgard.

He was still deciding on what to do when she glanced up at him for a moment to utter a barely coherent "I'm sorry."

Tenderness took the place of awkwardness when he looked down at her pitiful face, so beautiful and so sad. _So broken. _

"Oh Lorelai," he whispered, and lifting her up into his arms carried her to his bed like a baby and sat her down beside him. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She continued to incoherently babble into his chest, while he wrapped his long arms around her and tried to make sense of what she was saying.

He could make out "father" "left" "new family" "my fault" "the truth" and Loki could sort of understand what she was trying to say, all but the last word, which made no sense to him.

"You think your father left because of you?" he asked her.

She shook the head that was still buried into his leather-clothed chest.

"Oh, angel, I'm sure that's not true. Besides, you told me that he left you and your mother years ago."

His words just made her more hysterical.

She started babbling more about "not just that" "everything" "my life" "lies" "no escape" "waste".

Now he had no idea what she was talking about, but he still tried to calm her down. He wrapped his arms tighter around her, until he was all but squishing her, and kept gently shushing her until her sobs became softer.

Loki was absolutely miserable. He was miserable, because she was miserable.

Around ten minutes later when her sobs had quieted considerably, he took one of his arms out from around her waist and brought it to her face to raise her eyes up to him.

They looked at each other for a moment. Green and purple eyes looking deep into each other's. After a minute, he took his hand and pushed some of her hair that had fallen out of her bun and tucked it behind her ears.

He gave her a small smile. "Do you want to tell me why you are so upset? Or what happened?"

She lowered her head again and shook it "no."

"Well, that's fine. To be honest I don't like to much talk about my father either. In fact, when I'm upset, I don't really like to talk at all, I'd just as soon do something to let my anger out." he joked.

She gave a small, pitiful laugh.

"You feel like punching something? Or stomping on something? You're wearing the right shoes for it..." he said lifting up the end of her gown to reveal her dirty lab boots.

She laughed in earnest now, before it turned into hiccups. When she was done, she looked up at his face, smiling.

"Here," he said, handing her a green handkerchief.

Lora took it and wiped the tears off of her face and blew her nose with it.

"Thank you," she said sounding much better.

They sat for a few more minutes like that, holding on to each other, until she broke the silence.

"I'm sorry Loki, I didn't mean to come and do this in front of you." she told him while she gently pulled away.

He didn't let her go so soon, however.

Pulling her back and holding her even tighter, he said, "Don't be sorry. I don't mind, although I am surprised that you came to me."

She was looking up at him all the while that he spoke. He thought, not for the first time, that she had some of the most somber eyes he had ever seen. And they were very somber, the only match being his own, on occasions when he was not in a mischievous mood.

"I know. I was feeling so miserable and upset, and I just needed to talk to someone besides my family or my roommates. I just needed to talk to someone who makes me feel…."

"So scared and angry that you forget about your troubles?" he attempted to answer for her.

She shook her head.

"Someone who makes me feel happy."


	12. Chapter 11: Forgeries

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 11: Forgeries**

"Show me one more, before I have to leave!"

"I think you've had enough magic for one morning, don't you think?" Loki said, raising his eyebrow at the scientist sitting in front of him.

They were sitting once again in his cell. She on the edge of his bed, with her hands in her lab, utterly absorbed, while he stood in front of her. It was a few days after her midnight-visit to his cell.

They had not spoken about her visit, but there was a tangible difference in the air when she visited him now, as if a barrier that was between them had been broken, and now they were less a jailer and a prisoner, but a young man and a young woman who understood one another.

"I'm surprised that the trickster believes in such a thing as too much magic?" she said teasingly. She knew he never tired of her asking him to show her what he could do with his talents. It always improved his mood significantly, and she enjoyed watching what he had to show her.

"Ok well, here," he pulled something round out of his coat that resembled a marble. "Watch closely."

He took the marble and did a few fancy tricks moving and rolling it around with his fingers, then opened his hand, closed it, moved it around a little, opened it again, and it was gone. Then he reached behind her ear and pulled it back out.

"Charming." She said taking the creamy white marble he was offering her. "Quite different from your other tricks." she added, inspecting the object in her hand.

"Perceptive of you. That trick was done without the aid of magic. Anyone can trick someone Lora, make it seem like they are performing magic, with a careful technique."

"I will keep that close to my heart and mind," Rolling her eyes she added with uncharacteristic sarcasm.

He was in a surprisingly good mood today, considering she had told him that his brother was back in Asgard. When she had told him, he had just shrugged and said that now being in his cell away from the palace was twice as much a good thing.

He was in such a good mood, she wondered if he wasn't up to something.

He came and sat down on the bed next to her.

"That is actually a Midgardian trick there." He said while juggling the marble she had returned to him. "Charming indeed, but simple enough for their limited minds to conjure up."

"You think the humans are stupid?" She asked surprisingly.

"Well… yes. Of course. Their minds are not as highly evolved as ours; their lives are insignificant and meaningless."

"You don't like them." It was not a question. "I just figured after…well…you know…" She did not specify his defeat on Midgard at the hands of the Avengers after she saw his face darkening… "Well I thought you would have more respect for them. As a race I mean."

"Yes I was defeated by the humans, but that only makes it worse, because they are worthless and wretched. Their lives are a joke. They are a joke." She noticed his voice getting louder and angrier as he spoke. "Fighting so hard against me when all I wanted was to rule them. They can't rule themselves; they aren't capable. They _needed _me to rule them."

She looked at him blankly. "You hate them." Again not a question.

For once he said nothing.

She stared at her hands that were resting in her lap. "I admire Midgardian culture. You know, there are black market Asgardian smugglers who know secret ways to get between the realms, and that have been to Midgard. And I have listened to their tales. They say amazing things about what humans on Earth have accomplished. They are artists, many of them, and they have built magnificent cities to rival our own. In some ways, they are most talented of all the realms. They've made incredible technology, and they live their lives with, I don't know, a fire. A fire that is missing from many of the people of this realm.

Loki looked at her haughtily. "The fire you speak of is there because they live for such a pitifully short time. All the spark, art, and technology is simply them trying to use up the time that they do have."

Noticing her expression, his look surprisingly softened and he relaxed the tone of his voice.

Taking hold of her hand he quietly said, "Don't look so melancholy, dear. I know you're too kind to think wickedly of anyone. But trust me, I know what I speak of. I have known the humans. They aren't like you and I."

She listened and let him hold her hand, but her gaze still fell to her lap, where their hands met.

He gently took his other hand to hold her chin; he raised her eyes meet to his.

"During my time on Midgard, I never saw a woman that was as smart, as brave, and as beautiful as you are."

He may have been the God of Lies, but at this moment he seemed dead serious. His voice had a quality that she recognized; it was a quality of voice men had when speaking to a woman that they loved, or desired. Lora had heard it several times, but she never thought she would hear it being used by someone speaking to her. It was low and soft, and incredibly alluring.

She held her breath and didn't blink as he, not breaking eye contact, moved his long hand from her chin to the back of her neck. The hand that held hers slid around her waist and slowly pulled her closer. She watched shocked still as he leaned his face down to hers and closed his eyes before he met her lips with his.

His kiss was surprisingly soft, and brief, because she turned her face away so that he was looking at her neck and not her face. Lora continued to look the opposite direction until she had composed herself, while he waited patiently, an odd feeling in his chest.

….

She walked quickly back to the university afterwards, remembering that she had agreed to go to an art gallery later with the twins who had to write about some of the pieces.

The atmosphere was animated when she was walking back. There were many people on the streets who were speaking loudly as they gossiped and spoke about the things that the community found note-worthy. In a city as big as the capital, there was always something new that Lora would hear people on the street speaking about, some scandal usually and often as not a complete rumor.

Today was more interesting than usual, because the topic was about the brother of the man who had just kissed her not 20 minutes past. People were saying that Thor had gone back to Earth and returned with a mortal woman. There were many rumors as to why. Some said she had a terrible secret, others said that Thor had brought her back to marry her and make her his queen.

Lora made a mental note to perhaps ask Loki about it, and although he was stuck in his cell, for some reason he always seemed to know the answers to questions like this. That is, she would ask him about it if she ever decided to visit him again. She wasn't so sure.

Thinking more about the prince she searched her coat pocket as she walked through the snowy streets and found the object he had given her.

_"__Here," he had said, opening her hand and putting the smooth white object into her hand, "take this. Something to remember what I told you. About magic and tricks."_

_"__What is it?" She had said holding it up to her eye. _

_"__Something I found on a trip to the sea once."_

_"__Oh."_

_He had smiled but had not tried to kiss her again as he had shown her to the door of his cell. _

What had happened weighed heavily on her mind, but to be perfectly honest, she wasn't completely surprised that it had happened. She had noticed the prince's growing affection for her and mostly for her visits, but she had hoped that nothing like this would happen. And especially after today, she was certain that continuing the visits would be an unwise decision. But it didn't make it easy; she had grown as fond of her visits to Loki as he seemed to be of her.

She let these thoughts go as she entered the university building where the gallery was being held.

She scanned her eyes through the crowd in the room before she heard someone shout, "Lora!" from across the room.

She spied her twin roommates walking towards her.

"Lora, finally you arrive! Do you know that you're-" Dagny yelled.

"Ten minutes late?!"her twin Erica finished for her.

"I'm sorry, guys, I got caught up in some work stuff." She said apologetically, although she couldn't help but be a little agitated about the attention to time paid by her uptight friends.

"Well, we suppose its ok-"

"-at least you showed up this time."

"Oh my gods, guys, I told you all I wasn't going to that stupid debate, how dare you be mad when I didn't show up. Dammit, sometimes you guys can be real jerks." She said and stormed off, leaving them open-mouthed and staring.

Lora wondered to a corner of the room where the more famous art pieces were kept. As she stood staring at a famous work of the battle of Jotunheim, a voice pulled her out of her abstract thoughts.

"Do you know that this isn't actually the original painting?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's a fake." said a young man coming closer to her and leaning against the side of the wall observing the dramatic battle with her.

"A young female artist painted it shortly after the battle. It was very controversial at the time, depicting the horror of the battle instead of the All-Father's glory. Anyways, it was acclaimed by more freethinking Aesir, until it was stolen from the museum years later."

"It was gone for hundreds of years until news came out that it had been found again."

Lora remembered that much. She had been a child when she had sorted through a pile of papers at her grandfather's house to make a hat out of, and had seen something about some famous painting being found and returned to the museum. Two men who had found it apparently at an antique store.

"What makes you think the painting is not the original?"

"Well everything is the same, someone did an almost perfect job of reproducing the picture, but here, take your hand and feel that."

Lora tensed as the stranger took her hand and gently rubbed it on the surface, apparently of the opinion that a reproduction was not important enough to refrain from touching.

"What do you feel?" he said rubbing her fingers gently over the painting and looking at her expectantly.

"Paint." She said frowning and taking her hand back.

"Did it feel smooth?"

"I guess so. Shouldn't paint be smooth?"

"I wouldn't say paint should be smooth, but it usually always is. The only thing is that when the painting was made, supplies were rationed for the war and most artists had to make their own paint because workers and machines couldn't be wasted on paint. The homemade remedies at the time were made with sand, and the paint was very grainy. It often felt like sandpaper."

"If what you say is true, wouldn't someone have noticed this?"

"Not necessarily. People see what they want to see. No one thinks to _feel _a painting, or smell it for that matter."

"Not normal people at least." She said frowning.

"No I suppose not." He said matching her every frown with a smile.

"Why haven't you shared this information with the museum?"

"Why? Many people would argue with me, not everyone would be convinced; it would be more fuss than it would be worth in my opinion. And it brings people happiness, coming here and looking at what they think to be an original painting that stood for something noble once. It is not my place to say and disappoint so many people. This museum is meant to bring people joy. What does it matter that it is not the original so long as people think it is and it makes them happy?"

For a moment she didn't know what to say. The curator had made a point for sure. Lora enjoyed art, although she would not consider herself an expert on the original kind, preferring music more or her ice skating, but looking around the room she had a new appreciation for drawing, noticing the families smiling and pointing, the proud artists who were there today standing next to their work, and the lone, elderly Aesir who stood staring alone, what the work meant to them she could not even imagine.

"I suppose you are right." She said, her attention turning back to the curator. "That is quite… noble of you."

He gave a little mocking bow, smiling a little. "High praise, miss Haraldsdottir."

Before she could ask how he knew her name, he answered her question for her.

"Your grandfather donates often to the museum. He talks about you all the time. I recognized your name on a university poster and saw your picture under it. You had saved some children from a murderer-."

"Yes," she said, quickly changing the subject, "So you know my grandfather?"

"Yes. He is a good man. Smart and talented. Apparently it runs in the family."

"What is your name?"

"Aric."

"Good luck with your paintings, Aric."


	13. Chapter 12: Discussions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 12: Discussions**

For the first time in over a year, Lora decided not to visit the prisons this week.

Or the next week.

Or the next month.

So instead of spending her time talking and laughing with Asgard's fallen prince, this week found her busy at work, investigating the death of a young student.

The death was puzzling to Lora, until she realized that it did not appear to be a murder, just a freak thing that had happened; an Asgardian that had fallen ill and died. Very rare among a race of people so strong. Even though the death was cleaner than most, it put her in a bad mood that week all the same, and her mood worsened as time went on and she realized how much she missed prince Loki's company, and how guilty she felt not going to him, as he was no doubt expecting.

As she examined the cadaver in front of her in the lab room, she tried not to let her thoughts wander back to the prince. As of late, she had been spending far too much time thinking about him.

He was, in many ways, misunderstood. He was brilliant, witty, handsome, and-sometimes-could even be kind. The prince had told her once during one of her visits that the Allfather had always favored his eldest son. He had tried to sound matter-of-factly about it, but she had seen in the way his eyebrows had drawn together and his lips tightened that it hurt him more than he led on. How he had said that he often felt out of place in his family, with a harsh look that didn't attempt to hide his sorrow at all. And of course, Lora couldn't help but want to comfort the prince; she knew how it felt to be out of place.

But she, of all people, knew criminals tried to manipulate those around them. After all, he was a prince for heaven's sake. He had lived in the palace; he had once been second in line to the throne. He had had a loving mother, and both of his parents. He had had a loving brother, and magic and power that almost none could rival.

She had to remember all the evil that he had done, the innocent people that he had murdered on Midgard, and the ones on Jotunheim that he had tried to.

If he showed her affection, if he acted like he cared for her, likely as not it was because she was the only woman he had to talk to, aside from his mother who she knew he sometimes spoke to via magic.

She knew she had allowed herself to grow too attached to Loki. But it was pointless. It was complete idiocy. Their relationship could go no further; he was a prisoner and un-trustworthy. She knew that she must not visit the prince again until it was time to chain him.

Her thoughts turned to the handsome curator at the museum…Aric...But no. She should not see him either.

…..

She took some of the time she spent not visiting the prisons going to see her grandfather instead.

The morning found him inspecting a vault in his home, which was one of the largest estates in this part of the city, looking at the weapons of his ancestors.

He nearly dropped a 5,000-year-old sword when two servants opened the door and let her in.

"Grandfather!" she said as a greeting as she walked towards him with open arms and took the startled man in a hug.

He gave a deep laugh from the bottom of his stomach before patting her on the back and returning the gesture. "My you gave me a fright, child. What brings a young student like yourself to see this old crab?"

"Well I was in the neighborhood and just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing." In truth she felt somewhat guilty. She used to visit her grandfather all of the time, but she hadn't seen him at all in months.

"Well I'm certainly glad to see you, dear." He gestured to a servant to come pick up the sword he had dropped and put it back away, while another opened the door for them. "Now, would you care for some spiced cider, by any chance?"

"That sounds lovely, grandfather."

"Excellent."

…..

Seated out on her grandfather's extravagant balcony with a lovely view of the far off mountains, Lora quietly sipped her cup while they discussed books, her studies, news about her mother, and inevitably her father's favorite subject; politics.

"I've heard all manner of strange rumors at the tavern lately."

"Rumors about what?" she asked looking at him over the top of her cup.

"Rumors about the prince."

For a second her heart stopped.

"People are telling a most distressing tale about the prince bringing a Midgardian woman to the palace who is the host of a most dangerous weapon."

Her heart started working again. _Oh, _she thought_, that prince._

"Yes I have heard similar rumors, grandfather. I wish I knew what is really going on. I wonder if it has something to do with the convergence?" A popular topic at the University lately, the discovery of the rare convergence that was coming up led to a lot of speculation.

"These are a most distressing times, child. When I was your age Asgard was a much safer place. Now with all these wars with other realms and what not, one walks a tightrope every day of their life. All we can do is try to find any bit of security that we can."

….

As it turned out, the prisons were quite full with many of the prisoners that Thor had brought back from Vanaheim the month before, and there was not much room for them all.

Fearing that they may have to move Loki for some reason in the process, Lora was asked to come down the next day in case they needed to chain him for some reason.

She was let into his cell with all of his chains, and asked to stay there until the other jailers could figure out if he must be moved or not.

For once their roles were almost reversed, when she walked into his cell. Today he was the one who stood up quickly when he saw her, a myriad of emotions all visible on his face: surprise, pleasure, and hurt, and she was the one who stood very still by the door, and kept her face impassive.

She did not say anything, did not even look at him, but kept her arms folded and her body stiff.

But he was having none of that.

He got up off of his bed and swiftly walked over to her. She gave a cry of surprise as he quickly grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her small body against his lean one. She struggled and protested, but he just pulled both of his arms tight around her stilling her struggles and letting her hands rest against his chest.

He looked at her for a moment before taking one of his hands from around her waist to hold the side of her head.

"You've been avoiding me." He whispered.

"I have not. I have been busy."

He shook his head.

"It's been a whole month, and you haven't been to see me."

She refused to let the guilt and sadness affect her, using anger in her next words to disguise her pain, "I was busy. There's a world out there that I live in, and the disgraced prince I chain isn't important in the scheme of my life." When he didn't say anything, she added her next words hurriedly, "I'm not going to follow you down into this hole. I live in a world that you aren't a part of anymore."

She expected him to be very angry, as past actions would indicate. But to her surprise, he continued to gently hold her, and his soft whisper did not get louder.

"You don't mean that."

"I do. Let me go." She resumed her struggles and gave a sharp push against his chest to which he pulled her to him so tight she had to incline her head all the way up to meet his eyes.

"You don't. " Now his voice was firm. "Now you tell me, Lorelai, why you have been avoiding me, because I'm not letting you go until you tell me." She started to speak, but he interrupted her. "And don't think about calling for the guards. They can try and kill me if they want, but I won't let go of you until you tell me why." He gave her a strong shake to emphasize his resolve.

Salt water filled her eyes and her voice shook when she told him, "You know why."

He smiled. "Because of this?" he said, reaching down to give her a kiss.

She turned her head away sharply. "Yes!" she hissed, "and you will not do it again."

"I will." He said turning her head back to his. "I will go on doing so until I know you don't want me to."

"Loki this has to stop. Tomorrow I am going to tell the Allfather that he must find someone new to put on your chains."

He face lost all of its humor now. "Why?"

"Because you are a trickster, a liar, and a murderer. And you are playing a game with me, because I am the only one that you have to play with, but no longer."

He took her head in his hands and looked her dead in the eyes. "What makes you think that I am playing with you?" She knew what he was trying to say, but she refused to give in.

"It would be worse to believe that you are not, because then you will break my heart. So I will go on believing that you are playing with me, and I will not see you again."

When Lora pulled out of his arms this time he let her go. He even let her call the guards to open the doors to his cell and let her leave. He did not, however, let her see the pain on his face as he walked back to his bed and lay down.


	14. Chapter 13: Attacks

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who is following, favoriting, or reviewing this story! I appreciate the support! And I'm sorry about this short, non-Loki chapter:( It's necessary though, I guess.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, or Thor. And this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 13: Attacks**

Her grandfather's words proved eerily insightful when Asgard was attacked for the first time in thousands of years.

Lora had been in the education district of the city, where the university was located, sitting in class when the attack occurred.

The University, being one of the oldest ones in the Asgard, and therefore probably the world, was prepared for any attack. The underground caverns and bunkers were souvenirs of more dangerous times. Everyone in her class was ushered underground into tunnels and rooms beneath the ground when the ground began to rumble and the sounds of attack were heard.

She had left her books on her desk with the rest of the students and hurried down about five flights of dark stairways following a teacher carrying a lantern.

They stopped in the rooms in the fifth story bunker. The bunkers supposedly, if rumor could be believed, went down hundreds of stories. But for many reasons well known to everyone at the University these days they dared go no further than five stories.

Her professor turned off the lantern so as to not waste the oil, and Lora and the rest of her class stared up at the dark ceiling, listening to the ground rumble and occasionally shake.

After many hours people from other rooms in the same story of their bunker started opening the doors and mingling. Three professors and three students volunteered to go up for any news about the attack.

They came back down around half of an hour later and told everyone that the attack was over and it was safe to come back up.

Afterwards was chaos, a stark contrast to the eerie silence they had been waiting in for the previous hours.

Everyone was struggling to find out what parts of the city were attacked, messages were being sent out all over from people trying to find out if their family members were still alive or if they had been hurt or killed. Some people left to go be with their families, a few were left sobbing in the halls or buildings who had just learned that they had no family left.

Thanks to her grandfather's influence and amount of resources, she found out quickly that her mother and grandfather were fine when a messenger of her grandfathers came to find out her fate for him.

But most people were not as lucky as she was.

She bowed her head in sorrow and respect with the rest of her class when someone announced to the crowd gathered that the Queen had not survived the attack.


	15. Chapter 14: Goodbyes

**Disclaimer: I don't own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 14: Goodbyes**

Her footsteps echoed loudly as she walked down the dungeons.

She had sworn to herself that she would not go see him again, and could scarcely believe that she was doing this.

But she had heard once that it was times like these that someone needed comfort the most, and it she knew it would be cold hearted indeed to abandon Loki when it seemed like he would need it the most.

At least she assumed he would be upset. His mother was the only member of his family that Loki could speak about without twitching.

A part of her still wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing; coming to see him again after she had sworn not to anymore. It might give him the wrong idea. But it was too late really for her to stop.

She continued down the eerily silent hallways, cringing each time the heel of her boots clicked loudly against the stone floor. Continuing down the dark path, she noticed the disarray of the halls, and the broken cells that were now empty.

The guards stepped aside as she reached out and unlocked the door to the prince's cell.

She stopped mid-step in shock as she stepped inside.

His table and chairs were overturned and broken, all of the items he had in his cell were scattered all over the floor. Even his food, too. There was dirt or blood or something smeared on his walls.

But the most shocking sight of all was the prince. Whenever she had seen him in the past, he had always looked like a prince. Perfect, intricate outfit complimenting his beautiful dark hair and flashing green eyes. He had always looked so dashing. She would never tell him but every time she had walked through that door he had taken her breath away.

But today he looked like a prisoner.

There he was, huddled in the corner of his cell.

His beautiful hair was wild. He didn't look his normal pristine pale-self like he usually did, today his face was a sickly white pallor. He was barefoot and cut badly in one of his feet. She wasn't sure if the clothes he was wearing were the illusion or if the nice clothes that he usually wore were the illusion, but regardless today he was wearing baggy black pants and a loose green shirt that looked ragged.

He didn't look up as she came in, and he didn't look up as she walked across his cell, rolling grapes away with her feet as she walked toward him.

She didn't feel like she, whose mother was alive and well, and who had betrayed him by deciding to abandon him, had the right to share any words with him.

And she wouldn't have known what to say if she did.

So she didn't say anything, she just sat down next to him, grabbed his shoulders lightly, and pressed her lips to his cold cheek. After a few seconds she gently pulled away and looked at him. He still hadn't moved but his eyes were now closed.

She took one of his hands, and put into it a silver hair comb. He had often played with it while it was in her hair and she was sitting with him. He had asked about it once and she had told him, yes, it had been a gift from her mother. No, he could not use it to show her a trick. Yes, the amethysts and diamonds were real. Yes, it was very valuable. No, she would not take it out and "shake her hair around a little."

She thought it only fair to give him something to remember her by, thinking of the pearl he had given her, which was now in her pocket.

She then quietly walked back out of the cell.

She could've sworn she had seen Prince Thor coming down the stairs to the dungeons when she was leaving coming up. But she was really crying too hard to tell.


	16. Chapter 15: Escapes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**A/N: Sorry that this was later than usual. Also, updates might be a bit slower(or non-existent) for the next two weeks due to that ever-present thorn in my side known as final exams. Thank you to all who have followed and favorited the story! And there have been some super sweet reviews lately! So thank you! Love you guys! (Also I apologize for another short non-Loki chapter, but thats just the way the cookie crumbles)**

**Chapter 15: Escapes**

She was back at work, comparing blood samples from a crime scene, about an hour or so after leaving the dungeons when she heard noise and shouting.

She started to walk out of her lab to find out what was going on when the noise got louder and the building started shaking. Her first thought was that Asgard was being attacked once again by the elves. Hurriedly putting down her test tubes, she was getting up to hurry out of the room when she heard a crash from outside and the building shook so much that she was thrown to the ground.

She looked up and saw vials and test tubes shatter and shake and bones and boxes fall off their shelves and crash to the floor. Terror coursed through her veins as she saw precious evidence and samples destroyed and lost. Abandoning her extinct to flee she ran to gather up what she could.

She crouched on the ground in despair as the building stopped shaking and she saw the shattered remains of her lab.

"Lora!"

She heard Ragna run in but couldn't find the energy to look up yet.

"Lora!" Rangna said breathlessly, "You'll never guess what has just happened!"

"What?" Lora whispered noting the excitement in Ragna's voice, a complete antithesis of her own.

"Prince Thor has left Asgard with Prince Loki and the Midgardian woman."

"What?!" "How?" Here she jumped off the floor to face Ragna.

He and his friends busted the Prince Loki out of jail, stole one of the air ships and with a human named Jane left Asgard. The king's men can't find them at all, and Heimdall won't say anything.

"My gods."

"Yes I know!"

"And the noise I just heard and the crash…"

"Was them escaping. Whoever piloted the ship must have not known what they were doing, because they managed to create quite a bit of damage. They didn't hit this building but they hit another nearby and large pieces flew into this one. There is quite a bit of damage on the west side. And in here I can see," she observed looking around at Lora's lab.

"Thank you Ragna. That will be all."

"Don't you need me to help you try to see what's saved?"

"Not now. I'm sure they need help in the West part of the building. Go there."

"Alright. Send for me if you change your mind."

She looked miserably around at her lab that was almost as scattered and destroyed and confused as her thoughts were.

Prince Loki had escaped. Thor, his brother, and the mortal Jane had left Asgard. Her office was in shambles. Prince Loki had escaped.


	17. Chapter 16: Distractions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**A/N: Okay, so I am so so sorry for the long time between this chapter. Not only did I have all these annoying final exams to study for but I'm also pretty sure I caught the plague, so when I did have time to write I didn't feel like it. I also apologize for the length of this chapter, because it is literally the length of a label tag on a shirt. But because it is so short, the next one I am going to post in like an hour or so.( And it's a good one, I think ;) ) I also want to thank all of the awesome people who have jumped on the "Chain-Train"(hee hee) by favoriting, following and reviewing it. Thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter, which I think was: lisamariem, velvet sunset, Lady Syndra, AltheaGray, and especially kristina44. If I could have flagged your review for awesomeness, kristina, I would have! Anyways, enjoy!**

**Chapter 16: Distractions**

For the next day Lora tried to stay as busy as possible, to keep from going crazy.

That turned out to not be very hard, because her entire lab had been trashed by the accident. Valuable evidence was destroyed, and many had been damaged beyond the point of investigation or use in a council of justice.

In the outside world they were going crazy about Thor's treason and Loki's escape. School was canceled, shops were closed, and her grandfather's philosophy discussion group was called off.

It was all so confusing to Lora. It seemed so unlike what she knew of Prince Thor for him to take out some buildings on his way out of Asgard. It did,however,seem like something that Loki would do. But she had told him where she worked, and he must have known, if he had been piloting the craft, that he was smashing into the building where she worked. Why would he do such a thing? Or perhaps it wasn't him- maybe it was the mortal woman Jane. Weren't people always saying that down on Midgard almost everyone piloted some sort of machine to get to where they're going?

But in the institute Lora and her workmates had work to do. They didn't leave even for food because they were too busy, they had to have family members come and bring them food. Lora's mother brought her a bag of sweets.

After she had done all she could for her lab, Lora helped the workers in the west side of the building, who had it even worse.

She had been there a few days, sorting through rubble with the rest of the scientists, until a messenger came in and told them that the dark elves had been killed, Prince Thor had returned to Earth with no return date in the foreseeable future, and Prince Loki had been killed.


	18. Chapter 17: Reunions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 17: Reunions**

First it had been her mother pounding on the door of her dorm room, then the twins, then Ragna, then her mother again.

She felt guilty, lying on her bed in the dark, when everyone was so worried about her. Especially her mother.

But none of them knew what she was going through.

Why did it take losing something for you to appreciate what you had? It was cruel how unfair it was.

Why had she not been able to enjoy being in love, but she still had to experience the pain of his death as if he had actually been hers?

She had never cried so much in her entire life. She would have given anything to see him once more, and tell him how she really felt.

She didn't really know how _he_ had felt. He had seemed like he really liked her, maybe loved her, but she had learned from her mother to never trust men. "_Men will tell you anything, Lora, to get what they want_." And she had been the only girl Loki could see besides his mother.

But she didn't care. She didn't trust him because he was Loki and he couldn't be trusted. But she loved him for that. She loved him for everything he was. How misunderstood, beautiful, charming, hot-tempered he was. How sweet he could be.

If she could have seen him again, she would have stopped being so careful. So standoffish, so aloof. She would have stopped lying to herself, and allowed herself to admit to him how she really felt.

It was the middle of the night when she finally got out of bed. She pulled her silk robe on over her slim body and slipped on her slippers. Not wanting Dagny or Erica to know she was leaving, she left out of her low window and stepped outside.

It was freezing tonight, and had just started snowing. The wind chilled her to the bone through her thin nightgown and robe.

It was a beautiful night though. After a few minutes her slippers made a soft crunch in the snow and left footprints as she walked away from the dorms and to the frozen pond where she and the twins had ice-skated not a week before.

She stood at the edge of the pond and looked across the other side to where the woods started.

She thought she had used up all of her tears by now, but apparently anything was possible, because after a few minutes she felt cold tears running down her cheeks and felt her eyes and nose getting red and puffy.

"Lorelai."

She jumped and turned around, alarmed at the sound of her name spoken in the voice she loved more than any other.

There he was in all his glory. Standing in the snow, watching her.

She was too stunned to do anything for a while. She just stared open mouthed at him, the tears on her cheeks feeling like they were freezing.

He looked back at her with his signature little half smile, which grew broader and broader until he was grinning from ear to ear.

He seemed to fly over to her and she found herself being lifted in the winter air into his arms. He twirled her around- no longer grinning but flat out laughing.

She discovered she was laughing, too. Laughing and crying.

"Loki, I-" she started after he set her down for a moment, but before she could continue he stopped her by putting a finger over her lips and shushing her.

"Not yet," he said, wiping her ice-cold tears away before grabbing her as close to his tall body as he could and kissing her like he was a drowning man and she was his oxygen.

She stopped for breath after a few minutes and looked up at him, he looked down at her from his great height before kissing her again.

It felt like they had been kissing for forever and yet not very long when he set her down for a moment and smiled some more.

She squeezed both of his arms with her hands, to prove to herself that this was real.

"Loki," she spoke like she still couldn't believe he was here in front of her, "you have to tell me what happened. I thought that you were dead. Everyone said you were. My Gods, Loki, I thought you were dead. I thought I could never tell you…" She stopped and glanced down for a moment before looking back into the green flames that were his eyes.

"Tell me what." He said, managing to smirk and smile at the same time.

"That I love you. I love you so much, Loki, and I thought you were dead."

He gave her a small smile and combed his fingers through the hair that started at her temple and continued around the back, cradling her head with his other arm still strong around her waist.

"I know. Everyone was supposed to think that. I didn't want to find myself back in a prison cell again, love. Although I did enjoy our time together there darling, but I plan on enjoying it much more in the future, and in more attractive places."

She had been so excited to see him she hadn't thought about the fact that he was still legally a criminal and at the Allfather's mercy. She knew it was wrong, but she didn't want to see him back inside a prison cell either. She wanted to him to be free, and she wanted to be with him.

"Loki, even if they do think you're dead ,someone is bound to see you. You can't stay here in Asgard, you have to leave. I'll go with you. We can go to another realm where no one will know you."

He gave a knowing little laugh. "And you wouldn't mind giving up all of the hard work you've done at the university? At your job?"

"Well of course I would miss it. But I can find work and school on another realm. But you can't stay here."

He raised his eyebrows. "That is quite kind of you, my love. But as luck would have it, I'm not going to make you leave Asgard, and I for one have no intention of leaving either."

"What do you mean?"

"They think that I am the All-Father."

"What? Who thinks that you're the All-Father?"

To answer her he stepped away and she saw Odin smiling at her instead of the man she loved.

"Everyone."

He dropped the illusion and returned to his own self-satisfied form while she looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth for the second time that night. She understood now what he meant.

"Loki this is bad."

"I know. But don't worry, it will only be for a while. I don't intend on ruling Asgard in Odin's body forever. What's the fun in that? No, I have a plan. Soon I will be the king of Asgard in true name and form. And all will know it, and who the new queen will be. Marry me, Lorelai."

"Loki," she said horrified, "where is Odin?" she added not even registering the fact that he had just asked to marry her.

"Alive and safe, for the moment. Which is more than he deserves."

She tried to pull herself slowly out of his arms without him noticing so there could be a little space between them.

His green eyes missed nothing, however, and he pulled her back closer than before; his hands on her arms squeezing to the point of pain.

"You surely can't be upset." He spoke questioningly, his voice threatening anger if he got the wrong answer.

"_Surely_? You've not only broken the law, but have usurped the throne, and done Valhalla-knows-what with your father. And your brother! Is he really on Earth, or did you do something to him too?"

"I had nothing to do with Thor's completely-safe return to Earth. And I know for a fact he will not take the throne, so it rightfully belongs to me."

"Yes, after the All-Father's death. And only if he has chosen to pardon you."

"Be careful, Lorelai. You're saying things you don't know a bloody damn thing about." His voice progressively got louder during his speech.

"I actually do know a thing or two about criminal behavior. But about this level of greed and selfishness, you're right I do know nothing about it. You may have just set the lowest bar. I mean, after all this time, most people would just be happy to be free, but not you. No, you won't stop until you get everything you want." She sobbed when she was finished, praying to herself that this wasn't happening.

Now he was angry. Not normal man angry, but Loki angry.

"You're right. I won't stop until I get everything I want. What I want now is for you to do what I say. I am your king and your prince." He closed his eyes for a second and took a breath to calm himself. "Listen, it will be O.K. You're thinking the worst but it's not so."

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"No."

She knew he knew what she meant, and she saw all his anger return in a second, along with a fleeting look of something that looked like hurt.

She had stepped away now but he yanked her back with one strong arm, nearly dislocating her shoulder.

"You will. You will get past this. You will tell that irritatingly sensitive conscience of yours to be quiet, and you will accept this, and you will come and marry me and live happily at the palace with me for the rest of our very long lives."

She was crying now, but not for the reason he thought.

He stepped closer, becoming tender once again. He lifted her chin up with one hand and cupped her face with the other.

"I swore to myself back in prison, that if I ever got out I would never let you go." He whispered, pressing his face close to hers.

She knew it was time now. It was time to tell him something she had never told anyone, and should have told him before things had gone this far.

"I'm a human, Loki."

He froze. And seemed to be running over in his head what she had said to see if he had heard her correctly.

When he was sure he had, he forced her to look back up and looked at her in disbelief, eyebrows drawn together.

"I am a human, a mortal. My father was on a trip to Midgard, with you and some of your friends, actually. He found my mother dying and far along in her pregnancy. She asked him to help her. To take her baby. To take me. He did, and brought me to my adopted mother, who had just had a miscarriage. She raised me here in Asgard."

She could see him starting to believe her, to understand how it all made since now, her inability to do even the most simple magic, how small and weak she was, her fascination with Midgardian culture, and the look on her face when he had said he hated all humans.

He let go of her like she was on fire.

He took a step back, looking into the open air beside her.

"I'm sorry," she said sobbing quite loudly now, and stepping closer to him, "I should have told you, I know. But how could I?'

She reached out to put a timid hand on his arm. "It doesn't change how I feel about you. How I l-"

He stopped her, grabbing a hold of her wrist and throwing her away so hard she fell into the snow.

He gave her one last indifferent look before turning on his heel and leaving.

She somehow managed to find the energy to get off her back and onto her knees, and she stayed like that, crying with her hand over her face in the snow.


	19. Chapter 18: Reminiscences

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**A/N: Thank you so much all of you all who favorited and followed the story! And also thank you to all of you who reviewed( velvetSunset, Lady Syndra, Isa(Guest), Ladey Jezzabella, Kristina44, and Abby(Guest). I'm so glad that y'll enjoyed the last chapter, because it is definitely one of my favorites, even though, I agree with you all, Loki was being a total jerk. I'm not gonna lie, I've read like each of your reviews at least three times. You guys have written super sweet and funny reviews and they mean the world to me! Anyways here's the next chapter, (and we're back to where we started!Yippee) I hope y'all enjoy. ( I know it's short and Loki-less, but don't worry, the next one will be up soon).**

**Chapter 18: Reminiscences**

_Harald stepped closer to the young woman who was bleeding to death in the snow. _

_She looked to be about 17 or 18 years of age. She had dark hair, strange purple eyes, was small in stature, and would have been very beautiful in other circumstances. As it was, she had blood and dirt all over her hands and face. She was piled near the rest of her family, while some men were busy trying to get their truck to start. _

_He wandered how she was still alive, and on closer inspection he saw that underneath her heavy coat and loose gown was a smaller gown underneath which had great jewels sewn into the cloth all over. _

_It appeared that when she and her family had been shot, the jewels sewn into her gown had protected her against many of the bullets. But she had still been shot in the shoulder and the leg at least, and he could tell that she didn't have much longer left. _

_Underneath the coat and outer gown, he could see one other thing, that she was pregnant. And far along, too. _

_The natural instincts to avoid anything that was serious or unpleasant told Harald that he should leave, but she wouldn't stop looking at him. _

_"Help me, " she groaned again, "my baby." _

_It was eerie enough that she looked so much like his girlfriend back home in Asgard, besides her eyes, but he had heard Helga say those exact same words not two months ago. Helga had been lying in her bed crying; taking the miscarriage that had happened a few hours earlier extremely hard. _

_And he knew then that he had to help this stranger who looked like the mortal version of his love._

_Using every bit of medical knowledge he knew and every once of magic he had ever been taught in school, he helped the young woman quietly give birth to a premature dark haired baby in just a few seconds. _

_If it was possible, through all her pain and exhaustion the young mother looked at peace. He showed the baby to the mother, but did not hand it to her because he heard her murderers' voices getting closer, and Harald sensed he would have to leave soon. _

_"She has your eyes." He whispered to the woman who was crying tears of joy and pain with ugly sobs and a hacking cough. _

_"Here," she tried to keep from collapsing from exhaustion, and managed to pull out a small piece of jewelry from her dress. . "Give it to my-" she started coughing up blood again but he took it from her, knowing what she meant. _

_"Thank you," she said, closing her eyes and finally laying back on the ground._

_He knew she was almost gone, but suddenly he had to ask the girl one more question. _

_"What should I call her?"_

_He would give the baby her mother's pretty purple hair comb, but he wanted her to have something from her mother that could never be taken away. _

_The mother raised her heavy eyelids once more, and raised her head just a little. _

_She thought a second before telling Harald, "Give her my name. Call her Anastasia."_

_….._

_Night in had fallen in Asgard._

_It was dark and still when he walked up to Helga's home. He took the key out of his pocket that she had given him a year ago. _

_"_So you don't have to keep sneaking in the window. _"She had told him, giggling naughtily._

_He walked up the grand staircase as quietly as he could. _

_Harald knew that Helga's father would not approve of what he was doing. The harsh truth was that her father had not been altogether upset that his only child had not ended up being a young, unmarried mother after all- thanks to the miscarriage. _

_"Harald?" She was sitting up in her bed when he walked through her door. She always slept like a cat, but he could tell she had not been sleeping at all that night. He could see from her glistening cheeks that she had once again been mourning what they had lost. _

_He knelt beside the side of the bed. _

_"I have something for you, Helga."_

_He handed her the small human baby wrapped in his cape._


	20. Chapter 19: Decisions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Chapter 19: Decisions**

It had been so easy. Loki had almost been disappointed.

Almost.

He had known that he could catch the Allfather by surprise, and safely imprison him in an isolated area of Jotunheim.

He had known that Thor would return to Earth for the foreseeable future.

He had known that he could pretend to be the Allfather.

He had also known that Thor and Jane were the only ones who knew of his "death," and back in Asgard he could could tell everyone that he had helped Thor and Jane save Asgard.

He had known that Asgard would believe it when he had himself, as Odin, pardon his real self. "For his bravery in fighting the elves and his protection of his brother and the woman who held one of the most dangerous weapons in the universe. " was what the formal pardon had read. He had smiled as he wrote it.

He had known that he would be welcomed back into Asgardian society with open arms; that people loved a hero. A prince. A prodigal son.

He had known that they would except it when he, as the Allfather, pronounced himself as the new heir.

He had known they all knew that Thor had rejected the throne, and that they all knew he was the only choice now.

He knew the secret of his race and birth was a secret that had died with his mother, had been hidden with Odin, and left with Thor.

He had known they wouldn't be surprised when "Odin" had died so soon after his wife been killed and after his firstborn son had left. "Heartbreak." The people said. "It was just to much for the old king. May he rest forever in Valhalla."

He had known they would gladly crown him, Loki, the new king of Asgard.

He had always known that he would have everything he wanted. One way or another.

Loki had not known, however, that the woman he loved was part of a race he hated as much as he hated his own.

He had not known that during the day, sitting on his throne, and at night, lying in his bed, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about her. To forget about her and enjoy what he had wanted his whole life and finally had.

_It was unfortunate how one thing could ruin all of your joy_, he thought to himself as he stared at the scepter in his hand.

He had been king for one year now.

He couldn't help but give a dark chuckle as he remembered taunting Thor about falling in love with a mortal. Why did everything in his life have to be so ridiculously ironic?

"Your majesty?" his guards asked, coming out of their daze, assuming that whatever the king had just said had probably been a command directed at them.

"Nothing." The young king said.

But what good about being king, if he couldn't have everything that he wanted?

"On second thought, I need you to summon someone to my presence," Loki told the guards. "It's a young woman, she stays at the University."

"What is the lady's name?" his guards asked, mentally preparing themselves for a trip outside of the palace.

"I believe her full name is Lorelai Anastasia Haraldsdottir."

….

_Lorai's mother was not one to keep a secret. She was not a serious-enough person for that. _

_ But even if she had been, it would have been difficult trying to not let her daughter find out that she was the only human in Asgard. _

_She had home-schooled Lora for the first couple years because she thought it was too dangerous to let her be in school with the rest of the children. The Aesir were so much stronger and more powerful than humans; she had been afraid that Lora could have been hurt; the way kids play and roughhouse when they are young. _

_And when Lora had been enrolled in school, she had, with her father's help, got a doctor to forge an illness for Lora so that she would have an excuse not to play in school, but stay inside instead. _

_She remembered when Lora had asked her mother why she couldn't play with the other children when she didn't feel sick. _

_She had sat her daughter on her lap and told her the truth. She had been 7 years old._

_She hadn't been upset yet, because she was a child and didn't feel different, and Helga was the only mother she had ever known. _

_It was only later in life, during her sullen teenage years that Helga had read more into Lora's usual quietness and suspected Lora was thinking about how different and short her life would be from everyone else's in Asgard. _

_Her sullenness had only been temporary though; she loved her mother and school. She didn't even feel upset that her father had left her mother shortly after he had brought her to Asgard, because her mother was all she needed. Life was good._

_But when her father told her a few years ago how he had found her on Midgard, who her real mother was, and how she had died, her thoughts often took a darker turn. She felt a sincere sadness growing in her heart. Not from feeling upset about her heritage, but that there was so much evil in the world. _

_Her mother thought that had been why her daughter chose the career she did. Although the dangers involved in her choice of job unsettled Helga quite a bit, she knew her daughter was braver and smarter than many Aesir. And if it gave her daughter peace of mind she definitely didn't mind it. _

_She just always worried that one day when her daughter was a little older, and she met a man and thought about having a family of her own, that her race wouldn't keep her from having everything she wanted._

_..._

One week from graduating, Lora was getting dressed for class when she heard her roommates arguing with someone.

Dagny and Erica had been on edge lately. They had actually paid a smuggler who could travel between realms to try to find a position for them on Midgard, in one of their medical "hospitals. " They wanted to learn about Midgardian medical knowledge firsthand. Lora thought it was crazy, but there were actually quite a few Asgardians who lived and studied secretly in different realms.

Lora was a little confused about how they were actually planning on pulling this off, but she didn't doubt that they could.

It had been an awful year. It had been easier at first for Lora, because she kept her mind off of her crushing grief by staying busy rebuilding her lab. She would just explain to her mother or her friends whenever they wanted to talk to her that a lot of evidence had been destroyed during the princes' escape, and she had a lot of work to do to make sure no murders went free. That had worked until recently, and now she was just flat out avoiding people.

She was ignoring the voices of her roommates in the other room right now, until she heard a third voice that sounded like a man's. Lora tied a blue ribbon in her hair to match the larger one around her waist and went out into the common room.

She wasn't surprised when she learned what the two palace guards wanted.

Loki had not been known for being merciful, and she had doubted that he would have allowed a human to continue living and thriving in his realm.

She was hoping for the best, which was banishment.

She was expecting the worst, which was imprisonment or death.

Ignoring the shocked and confused faces of Dagny and Erica, she followed the guards out the door and allowed them to escort her to the palace.

They brought her straight to the throne room.

He was sitting on the throne like he belonged there, and without taking his eyes off of her, he waved the guards out of the room so that they were alone.

He stood up slowly, still looking at her, in his full battle uniform with helmet and cape and staff. She saw his black hair had grown longer, but he didn't look as healthy as when she had seen him last.

He remained still, just looking at her.

_The last time I was in this room_, she thought, _your father had told me that he wanted me to be in charge of chaining you up when you had to leave your cell. You were too dangerous, he had said, to not be chained. _

She walked slowly toward him.

Hardly believing the insanity of the whole situation, she lowered herself to her knees and bowed, putting one hand over her heart, as was due when someone spoke to the King.

She remained on her knees looking down, when she heard his quiet feet coming down the steps of the throne.

He stopped right in front of her, and she could see her human reflection in his shiny black boots.

"Rise." He spoke quietly.

As she did she got a good look at him since she had seen him last over a year ago.

He was as breathtakingly beautiful as ever. Strong and serene, dark and dangerous.

But she knew _she_ had changed a little. She was 21 years old. She couldn't see the difference in the mirror, but she knew that, even if it was scarcely noticeable, any wrinkles were deeper, and her bones had grown weaker. That she was one year closer to death.

"I've missed you."

His words shocked her. Not just because he wasn't a person to be the icebreaker or apologizer, but because she had been sure he would get to the point and tell her what he was going to do with her.

"I have missed you, too," she whispered honestly.

When she looked up, she saw him, and knew she was not imagining his happiness at her words.

"I love you still, Lorelai."

"Are you saying that you want to be with me again?" She asked, scarcely believing what she was hearing.

"I am. I do. I can fix this problem, I can fix you. There are ways. I've been training with powerful magic my entire life. I can-"

"What do you mean _fix me_? Are you speaking of my humanity?"

"Well, yes." He said as if it were the most obvious thing that had ever been said.

"I'm the King of the most powerful realm in the universe. Were you thinking I would just marry you as a human and make you my queen? You still being part of a race of weak and simple creatures who live 80 years if they're lucky?"

"No I wasn't thinking that. I was thinking that you loved me regardless of my race just like I love you regardless of all the baggage that you come with." She spoke with anger and a voice that got louder the more she spoke.

He didn't speak for a minute as he listened to her words and became as angry as she was.

"My 'crimes' are small in the scheme of things when compared to the vices of the race to which you belong." He said through gritted teeth.

"The only vice of my race that troubles you, is that they bested you at your own game."

With flashing eyes he slammed his father's scepter into the ground in one fluid motion, the loud clanging sound crashing through the room like waves during a tsunami.

"So long as you are a human, nothing you do will ever matter. You cannot live here and pretend to be something that you are not. Your life will be too quiet and short to make any difference in mine, or anybody else's. "

For the first time since she had tripped into his cell that long time ago, he saw a look on her face that he had never seen up till this moment, it wasn't anger or sadness, but something else that sent a cold chill down his spine.

She drew her eyes together in what appeared to be a mix of confusion and disgust, and turned around and slowly walked out of the room.

He watched her go, and did not call her back or go after her.

Before she left she turned to him once more.

She looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it, and just left.

_It's for the best_, he thought, before turning around himself and returning to the throne.

…

"Lora, you won't believe this." Dagny yelled as Lora entered their dorm.

"She's right, you simply won't believe this Lora." Erica's twin restated as she followed the distracted Lora into her room.

"Remember how we were trying to find a place-" Dagny began.

"-at a Midgardian hospital?" Erica finished.

Lora dropped her bag on the floor before switching off her lamp and curling into a ball on her bed.

The twins however, did not sense that anything was wrong and continued to speak to Lora's back.

"Well, we got it Lora!"

"We found a smuggler who can take us to Midgard!"

"He's already found a spot for us in one of their hospitals!"

Lora stared into the dark, her thoughts light-years away from what her identical roommates were raving about.

"Lora did you hear what we said?"

"Are you even listening to us?"

"Lora!" They shouted for once at the same time.

The volume of her roommate's combined shout brought Lora out of her trance and up in her bed.

"What?" She asked the twins, genuinely surprised.

"We are going to Midgard, Lora!"

Trying to process this information, the human turned her head and looked at the wilting purple rose on her desk.

"Well my Gods, Lora. This is a big deal, we at least thought that-"

"you would be happy for us. After all, you're the one always reading those Midgardian books and what-not."

"Lora, are you still listening to us?"

Lora jerked her head back up to her roommates, who were expectantly awaiting congratulations with crossed arms.

"That's wonderful news. I'm happy for the both of you."

Satisfied, Erica and Dagny turned to leave Lora's room and resume their packing when their roommate stopped them.

"Wait!" Lora said giving the purple rose one last glance before turning to look at her closest friends.

"Do you think that the smuggler you hired could take one more person to Midgard with you?"


	21. Chapter 20: Arrivals

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who favorited or followed the story since last chapter! I appreciate the support. And a special thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter, velvetSunset, kristina44, kaybal3, Kate Elizabeth Black. Your reviews were all super sweet and they definitely help me write faster. Also, I'm super nervous now, because at this point in the story things are starting to get... well... different. I hope you all don't hate it. Anyways, let me know. And I -hope- that you all will enjoy. :)**

**Chapter 20: Arrivals**

_What a strange land _was Lorelai Anastasia Haraldsdottir's first thought upon arriving in a place she had only imagined in her dreams; images that were conjured from the memories of her father and the cold assessments of her ex-king.

At first glance the whole world looked like it had been painted by someone who only had the colors green and blue. Tall blades of sharp green grass reached up to touch an endless soft blue sky.

Lora remembered having experienced a similar feeling to the one she was having now, when she had been just a little girl and her mother had taken her on a day trip to the sea.

She remembered the view being entirely of water up until where it met the horizon.

It had been beautiful, but terrifying as well.

She had the same feeling now looking at this prairie land.

Upon a closer look she saw that there were millions of more colors than just green and blue, but gold and brown and purple in the little flowers that grew closer to the ground.

_Beautiful_, she thought. Not the concrete jungle _he_ had told her about, but breathtaking in its own right.

"Lora, are you just going to stand there like a bilgesnipe seeing a spear for the first time, or are you coming? We're hours and hours away from the city."

As usual, it was impossible to have any thoughts that weren't logical around her roommates.

"I'm coming," she told Dagny and Erica as she picked up her bag and they followed the smuggler.

The man who had transported them to Midgard had transported them to this spot to avoid anyone finding out. Inter-realm travel was still a dream for many people, and not really allowed in Asgard without Heimdall or the King's permission. So it had to be done with extreme secrecy.

After the smuggler had transported them, it had been about an hour when he led them to a paved road where a human man was waiting next to a device she assumed was for transportation.

The smuggler had a network of a few trustworthy Midgardians who earned money for doing things that he needed done.

"Hi." The man said, smiling at them when they were close enough.

Lorelai held her breath as she saw a fellow human for the first time.

Strange to say, he didn't seem that different from most of the grubbier Asgardian men, aside from his clothing. He was wearing a shirt that left his arms bare, and tight blue breeches that had dirt on them. He had sandy blond hair, and one hand over his eyes to keep out the afternoon sun.

"I guess I'm supposed to give you ladies a lift the airport. The closest one is in Kansas City, and that's about a two-hour ride. Smuggler here says you all have an 8:00 flight to New York City. We best be going now."

_My Gods_, Lora thought, _"airport," "flight," "Kansas"; I feel like I'm a child again who reads a book but only understands half the words._

He took their bags from them and put them into his "pickup truck" while Smuggler gave the twins and Lorelai a number of someone on Midgard to call if they needed him for some reason, provided he was on Earth at the time. It was a possibility that actually seemed very likely; as they had made the journey they had learned that the Smuggler had a Midgardian girlfriend that he lived with while he was on Earth. She tried not to dwell on that, but couldn't help thinking about the irony.

The twins wanted to sit in the back because they had some paper work and legal things to look over to insure that their arrival in New York went smoothly, so Lorelai sat in the front with the man who said his name was Jason.

While he drove across the road that went through the grass sea, he tried to answer all of her questions as best he could about Midgard and Midgardian life. He gave her what felt like a lot of helpful information about starting a new life here in what he told her was the kingdom of 'Merica.

She learned about him on the ride as well. He was thirty-seven years old, and had a young wife who was pregnant with their second child, the first being a young three-year old girl.

"I do this for the extra money, you know, since I got another kid on the way and one already in little tennis shoes. For their college and stuff. They aren't going to have an excuse not to go, or to drop out like their dad."

"You dropped out of school?" His words had struck a resonant chord, and she was even more interested now. A childish part of her wanted to yell, "me too!" but she guessed that it wasn't something the man was actually really proud of, and neither was she.

"Yeah. I lost my football scholarship for doing some stupid things, and I couldn't afford to pay for it without, so I dropped out, and started painting houses for a living."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. I'm not complaining, though. I've got a beautiful wife and baby girl, and I don't mind painting much. I wish I had stayed in school though, because painting, it's hard work, and not a whole lotta pay. But once it's too late, it's too late. And you have to try to make do with what's left over."

She turned to look out at the purple sunset as she let his words turn over in her head.

Lora turned her head back when she heard Jason laughing to himself.

"What it is it?" she asked.

"I just figured I must have given ya something to think about. That's the first time you've stopped looking at me like I was an animal in the zoo all afternoon."

"Oh, uh," she started, but he cut her off before she could embarrass herself further.

"It's O.K.," he said, "I understand. Seein' a human for the first time ever. Most people like you end up being disappointed. We're not really that different from you, are we?"

"No," Lora whispered, looking back out the window, "no, you aren't."


	22. Chapter 21: Inquiries

**Discliamer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**A/N: Some of you may have received two emails for this chapter. Sorry about that. The format for the first one was crazy. I'm not sure why it was, but I went back and fixed it. Also thank you for all of the reviews/favorites/follows! I really appreciate the support. I'm also sorry that this one took longer than usual, but the beach was calling!;)**

**Chapter 21: Inquiries**

The twins had been among the wealthiest of Asgardian aristocracy. After they arrived they had transferred a lot of their Asgardian money to the smuggler for Midgardian money, and Lora assumed that they would probably be among the wealthiest of Midgardian society, too, now.

But regardless of how wealthy they were in regard to the rest of the humans, the New York apartment they were sharing was quite small. It was two bedrooms and one bathroom. They all three shared the bathroom but the twins had let Lora have her own room. The apartment was smaller than the dorm suite they had shared in Asgard, but Lora couldn't complain, because the twins had found it and she had a view of the city from her window.

With forged identification and documents from the smuggler, Erica and Dagny had started an internship at a hospital right away, so Lora was left alone most of the time. During those first days she tried to make herself useful by learning as much about Midgardian life and technology as was possible.

The twins would leave her money from time to time to do shopping for all of them. She bought alarm clocks, peanut butter, pants that apparently were worn by both genders, a board game with an old man wearing a monocle on the cover which caused Lora and the twins to fight a lot, a fan, soda, and a computer.

The computer made the most impact on them all. After Lora had figured out how to work it and get it connected to their apartment's Wi-Fi, they all used it for everything.

It was on the little computer that Lora learned everything there was about her biological mother.

Few things in Lora's life had been more painful than reading descriptions of what had happened to her real mother and family (which all happened many years ago. She assumed that the time that passed between the realms wasn't uniform).

But Lora tried to learn all she could anyway, to learn more about who she really was, and also who her father was. The latter of which came to no avail.

She had been hopeful when she first started searching information about her family and learned that many people had thought that her mother had somehow escaped, and had streamed many movies that had been made about the subject. She thought perhaps her father had been wrong. But she learned shortly that her mother's body had actually been found very recently; that she had died with Lora's grandparents and aunts and uncles.

But after all, the stories were not entirely untrue. An Anastasia _had_ escaped the slaughter. Just not the one most people thought.

Six months after she had been on Earth, Lora figured that it was time for her to start her new life. Starting with finding a job.

She said as much to the twins one summer morning when they were all eating breakfast together over the table.

"Well what are you going to do? I mean it's not like you have a degree. Although any degree from Asgard might not be good here, I guess." Erica offered chewing her marshmallow cereal.

Lora winced at the reminder of how she had dropped out of school two weeks from her finals and graduation. It hurt, but she knew that the twins didn't mean for it to. They just said harsh things without realizing what they were doing sometimes.

"If it were _me_, I would find a wealthy Midgardian gentleman to espouse you, as you do intend on remaining permanently. That would seem to have the greatest opportunity for you to succeed in this realm."

Lora set down her mug in irritation and looked across the table at Dagny, "That is most certainly _not_ what you would do!"

"Excuse me, I meant to say, if I were _you_ I would find a wealthy Midgardian gentleman."

Lora pushed her chair back from the table with a screech.

"Lora don't be so sensitive. You have to have the proper qualifications here to do what you were doing in Asgard. And, yes, you didn't finish school. There's that." Dagny said.

"There are tons of successful people with good jobs out there who didn't have any school." Lora replied.

"Yes, but they aren't you Lora. You were a scholar, and a scientist."

Lora had heard enough of her roommates talk.

She was buttoning up her jacket and walking down the apartment stairs as she tried to decide what to what to do with her day.

She decided on a whim to do more sightseeing, and settled on the Metropolitan museum of Art.

By the time Lora had made it through several of the other exhibitions, to the one which had several pieces from the country that she currently lived in, her legs were shaking with exhaustion. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about the museum made her more tired than just walking around and standing in any other place.

She stopped in front of a portrait of the first president of the United States when she remembered again the words that her roommates had said this morning.

She was sure that leaving Asgard had not been a mistake. She was a human, and now she was here with her own people, in the place where she belonged.

The circumstances of her departure were nothing to be proud of, though, she knew. Till the day she died she could never forget the words she had exchanged with her mother before she left, nor the words with-

No. She wouldn't think of that.

She gazed back up at the picture of the president.

_Living proof_, she thought, _that my people are capable of greatness_.

A sense of déjà vu washed over Lora, and she recalled that she had been standing looking at a portrait of another leader in a different museum not so long ago, talking to an Asgardian man named Eric, who was giving her a bit of advice. He wasn't here now, but what he had said to her rang in her ears.

Lora could almost imagine a light bulb flickering on over her head when she had the idea.

Not really a brilliant idea, she admitted to herself as she ran out of the room and down the steps of the Met, but a useful one, most certainly.

…..

Loki couldn't remember a time when he had been more miserable, and that was saying something.

He had meant what he said to her, and he hadn't been about to apologize or anything.

He had simply been curious about what Asgard's only human had been up to, when he had gone in disguise as a teacher to her hall and learned from some residents that she had left school.

As disconcerting as it was that she had behaved in a manner quite unlike herself, by leaving school, what was even more alarming to Loki was that when he probed farther he still could not discover where she had gone.

Exhausting all of his other options, he went to the only place that he could think of.

He went to her mother's house, still disguised as a teacher.

But Helga would not even open the door to speak about her daughter.

Three weeks later, after much deliberation, he returned to her mother's home. This time not in disguise, but as himself, king Loki of Asgard, and Helga had no choice but to open the door.

"Your majesty," she spoke with much more volume than her daughter did, "how can I assist you?"

He could see that grief had marred a face that would have otherwise been very beautiful, and oddly very much like the daughter that she had adopted. She didn't even open the door all of the way when she spoke, she just cracked it enough to be able to speak to him.

The dark circles under her eyes and the look of misery on her face displayed unhappiness so profound that it held sway over what would normally have been shock and amazement at seeing the infamous ruler of Asgard standing in the doorway of her modest home.

"There is a human in the realm." He said curtly.

He could see Helga try to hide a look of surprise, which she actually did quite well, but the God of Lies could easily see through it.

She returned the sharp tone that he had used with her. "If there is, I don't know anything about it."

Her haggard look and dismal words made his heart stop for a minute. Had Lora _died_?

"You haven't been hiding from the realm that you've been raising a human girl named Lorelai Anastasia Haraldsdottir?"

"No one is in trouble," he added after a second, "I just would like to know where this human is."

"Well you don't have to worry anymore. She's gone back to Midgard. She went with some smuggler about six months ago. I haven't spoken with her since she left."

_Midgard?_

_…__What?!_

He used all of his magic to try and keep his face impassive.

"Ah."

He cleared his throat, and since she kept looking at him he asked, "When will she be returning?"

Her mother whispered pitifully. "I don't think she will be."

"I see." He flicked his cape to the side and turned on his heel to leave.

As he did, he heard her mother tell him to wait for a moment.

"You knew her didn't you? She used to put on your chains and such? You spoke with her often?"

He cleared his throat. "I did."

"Did she ever…"

He waited for her to go on, which she appeared to have difficulty doing. To his horror, it seemed like she was struggling not to cry.

"I know it was a while since you were in prison, but do you have any idea why she would leave? Did she ever say anything to you? Did someone say something to her? Something that would make her want to leave Asgard?"

"No, not that I know of. I am sorry." he said, and then turned and left as quickly as he could.

He left her mother holding onto the doorpost, miserable.

The crushing guilt he felt seemed to literally weigh him down as he walked back alone to his lonely palace through the gilded streets of Asgard.

But by the time he had returned to the palace, the guilt had turned into anger.


	23. Chapter 22: Endeavors

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit!**

**Chapter 22: Endeavors**

_"__What the hel did you just say?"_

_"__I'm leaving and going to live in Midgard." Lora repeated for the third time._

_"__What the hel are you saying? What the hel are you talking about?"_

_"__I'm talking about leaving Asgard and going to live on Midgard."_

_"__You've got to be joking with me. Are you? Tell me now!"_

_"__No I'm not joking. This is nothing to joke about."_

_"__Well that's something we can agree on!"_

_They had started the conversation sitting down. Lora had sat her mother down and quietly told her the news while Helga had quietly taken a sip of wine._

_Now the wine was spilt on the carpet and they were both on their feet._

_"__But why?" Her mother said despairingly, all of her former anger gone._

_"__I don't belong here, mother. I belong with my own kind."_

_"__Haven't we been told at least a hundred times how alike we are? As if we really are related? I am your mother! Lora, you're no different from the rest of us. You belong here."_

_"__If that were true mother, you would have let me go to school with the rest of the children. You would have let me play with them. You wouldn't have had to protect me until I was old enough that you were sure I would be safe… And father wouldn't have left."_

_"__Lora." She took a step toward her daughter._

_"__No." Lora's voice was rock. "Don't start that mother. I'm too old for you to try to tell me different. I want you to look me in the eye, and tell me that if I hadn't been an adopted human, that father wouldn't have left us and started a new family."_

_Her mother was quiet for a moment, and gave her a pleading look._

_Lora's face twisted into a sad smile._

_"__That's what I thought. You know it's true. I can't have a normal life here. I couldn't have a real husband or children. And my life would be so short I couldn't make any difference with my career, here where things are done so slowly."_

_"__What has happened to you?"_

_"__Nothing. I've just finally faced the truth. Maybe you should too, mother."_

_…_

Lora almost missed a stair as she scrambled up the stairway looking at the address in her hands.

With some difficultly she finally found a door that matched the numbers on the piece of paper in her hands.

Recently Lora had been speaking to herself more often. She had always been somewhat of a loner, but now she was alone with herself almost all the time. Speaking to herself was a comfort, and reading to herself out loud helped her get a feel for Midgardian words and their way of speech. "Apartment 732," she read, "well, let's hope this goes well."

The door was opened before her first knock.

"Oh!"

She jumped back startled, at the man who had opened the door so quickly.

"Uhhmm." She cleared her throat before continuing. "I'm sorry, I was startled. You answered the door before I had the chance to knock." She spoke the last sentence in the form of a question.

"Yeah, well I heard you talking."

"Oh." That was embarrassing. "I see."

They stood awkwardly for a few moments as Lora regarded the man before her.

He looked to be about late 20's or early 30's, a little chubby, with messy sandy hair that covered an overall average face. She thought he would look better with a shave, a wash, some sleep, and a smile.

"Are you Martin Massie?"

"Who's asking?"

"I am Lorelai Haraldsdottir."

"Is that some kinda communist name?"

She wasn't sure what a communist was, but she found with her six-month experience in living in New York that it was usually best to agree with people when they asked you a question, even if you weren't sure what it meant.

"Um, yes. Yes it is actually."

He looked at her like she had just escaped from a madhouse.

"Uh Huh. What do you want Lorelai the communist?"

"You can call me Lora. Can I come inside?"

"Be my guest."

He held the door open for her and she found herself in a much different apartment than the one she shared with Dagny and Erica.

There were items all over the apartment, beautiful items, mostly artwork. Sculptures and paintings of all types and styles. Of all regions and times. But even though most of the items were nice, they were all scattered over the apartment in the messiest and most disorganized way possible. It was strange.

"I'll cut right to the chase, Mr. Massie."(She had heard a woman say that on the Television. It sounded tough and business-like, so she had made mention to use it later if she could). "According to the Google you are well-known artist 'with no real creative talent, but an uncanny ability to replicate the style of others'. I'm quoting the magazine _Artists Artists Artists_, so please don't take offense."

"Oh, of course not." He was only being half sarcastic. He heard something along these lines every year when he drove to Montana to have Thanksgiving with his family. "_Martin, art is not a practical profession! Hell it's not even a profession"_ was typical for his father. From his mother he usually got a little bit of "_Martin, dear, you gave it a chance and it didn't work out. There's no shame in giving up_." And if his sister was in a particularly kind mood, _"Martin, you had your chance, and you didn't make it. Why are you trying to prove to yourself? Just come back, the cows on the ranch won't milk themselves."_

"Really, I greatly admire your work. You have an absolutely impeccable sense of detail. Your imitations of famous works are astounding." Lora said.

As she spoke to him she couldn't help but walk around his apartment gazing wide-eyed at the multitudes of art to be found there. His reproductions ranged from Van Gogh's _Irises_ to Norman Rockwell's _Four Freedoms_.

Every inch of his wall was besieged with paintings, and there were all types of art on all other surfaces of the house.

Something bright and colorful caught her eye near the couch. She picked it up to look at it closer; it was very different from the rest. It was a sculpture, and more modern looking. Hundreds of chunks of pieces of crayons appeared to be what the figure was made of. Some of the chunks appeared to have been melted and shaped accordingly, some were coarse and jutted out, some chunks still had the crayon wrappers on them.

It was a figure of an astronaut. The figure was made in shades of white, black and grey, save for the face and the helmet that the astronaut carried under his arm. His face was done in the sharpest and most poignant of colors, healthy and striking looking, his expression one of amazement.

The helmet he carried under his arm was made to reflect the astronaut's surroundings, which appeared to be that of some alien world.

Millions of practically microscopic chunks made up the helmet, in every type of color that Lora had ever seen. The reflections including strange and wonderful types of vegetation, curious forms of life and even the astronaut's landing module in the background.

It was one of the most intriguing pieces of art Lora had ever seen. She felt like she could stare at it for a thousand years.

But that didn't end up happening because Martin grappled it out of her hand.

"What's that?" She said smiling and curious.

"Nothing," he said hurriedly kicking the beautiful object underneath an end table, "What do you want?" he asked impatiently now, and Lora had the feeling she had better get to the point before she was asked to leave.

"I need your artistic abilities for a money-making venture that requires someone of your skills." She explained.

"What type of money-making venture?"

"I want to sell famous lost works of art to private collectors and black market art dealers for insane amounts of money."

"You know where to find famous lost works of art?" He asked incredicuolously.

"No I don't know how to do that, but I do know how to do something else, that a man taught me once, and it's easier. I know how to cheat."

…

There was only one thing left in the room that Loki hadn't broken yet. It was a vase by the doorway, and was intact out of sheer luck.

Everything else was smashed, torn, kicked and destroyed from the anger of the King of Asgard.

_What did she think she could just leave him and not say anything? He was the king! How dare she try to sneak out of this realm?_

He struck a hole in the wall with the end of his boot.

At that moment, the two guards outside the door came into the room.

"My lord?" One of them said nervously. "Is everything all right?"

Their wise and powerful king was standing in the middle of the room. Tables were overturned, decorations were smashed into pieces, but worst was the king.

His bright green cape was stained and torn. His black hair was wild and pointing a million different directions. But his eyes…his eyes were absolutely crazy.

He gave the guard that had spoken a slow, menacing smile.

He spoke very softly. "Of _course _everything is fine. Do you know why?"

The guard, who was now regretting very much that he had spoken, shook his head.

"Because I didn't call you in here. Surely, if something was wrong, I would have called for you, would I not?"

"You would, sir."

"Did I call for you to come in here, though?"

"No, your majesty?"

"THEN WHY THE HEL ARE YOU IN HERE?!"

"I'm very sorry, my lord!"

The guards nearly tripped over one another trying to leave the room.

Loki let out a breath once they left. He could feel the sweat on his face, and the blood pumping in his head, but he didn't care.

It wasn't just that she had left, which she never should have done, but that she had done so without a word.

_Well, _he thought, _let her go down to Midgard if she wants. Let her think she is safe from me there. She will never be safe from me. She isn't the only one who knows how to travel between realms. I'll hunt her down to the ends of the Earth. She will never be rid of me. _

He flicked his cape and strode toward the door. As he did, he noticed a vase on the one side of the entrance, completely intact.

He smashed it with his boot, and left the room.


	24. Chapter 23: Reflections

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor, or Marvel, and this story is not for profit!**

**Laufina- First off, thank you so much for your review! And, I know, I don't think Loki even thinks about ever doing anything that will actually help his situation. And I'm glad you think what she's doing is fun, and don't worry, this chapter goes into more detail about it. **

**Pietroraven36-Thank you Thank you Thank you for your review. Thank you times infinity. That was one of the longest and kindest reviews I've gotten. I'm so glad you think I portray Loki well, because, to me, that's probably the hardest thing about writing this story. And thank you also for complementing the plot****J****. **

**And yes, I do know how long the story is going to be. I have all the rest of the chapters outlined out, and it's not really very much longer. There should be about 10 chapters left.**

**I can't believe you actually wanted me to write a new story after this one. You have no idea how warm and fuzzy that makes me feel inside. As it happens, I do have an idea for a new Loki story, a legit detailed idea. It will be a little darker than this story, with a much different plot, but up until you suggested me actually writing a new story I hadn't really seriously considered writing it. But now I kinda am. Does that sound like something you would want? The thing is, I love Thor, but there aren't that many chapters left of this story, and I'm not really sure it would fit to have him make an appearance. But I agree, it would be adorable for Thor to see Loki falling in love. But if I actually end up writing the new story, that will be in the next one;) Thank you again so much for your support!**

**NikitaKServensky- Thank you so so much! Like I mentioned, I really struggle to make Loki as accurately as possible. It's to me the hardest thing to do, and it is so encouraging that someone actually thinks I do a good job at it!:) **

**Emz6347-Thank you****J****I hope you continue to be….**

**Krisitna44-As always, thank you for your continuing encouragement! I'm so glad you like where this is going! I know it's different, but I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm sorry, I'm trying to keep my muse awake, but lately all he seems to want to do is lie on the beach. I'm trying to be more of a disciplinarian to him, so hopefully chapters will be quicker, again!**

**Chapter 23: Reflections**

One thing Lora hadn't anticipated she would miss when she came to Earth was having a routine. But once she had arrived and had no longer had due dates and schedules any more, she had found herself missing those things.

Now she was glad to have a routine again. Even if that routine included she and Martin Massie going to a million different libraries and museums, looking up old pictures and information about old pieces of art whose whereabouts were now unknown, and then going to a coffee shop or restaurant to discuss a game plan, and then spending weeks, or even months, drawing, painting, and reconstructing; that is, forging.

In Martin, she found a willing and competent business partner. His skill and expertise were invaluable, and after the first successful con, she found in him an enthusiastic supporter. Luckily, he had had no qualms about her proposal to do something so illegal, and he had even seemed excited about it when she had originally told him her plan.

To herself, she found her spirits were higher in finally having something to do with her days, although she often thought about how different her life and purpose had been on Asgard compared to now. Oddly, a conversation she had with Martin at his apartment one evening pointed out to her the exact opposite.

They were looking over their latest work: a painting of a young man done by a famous Italian artist, one of the oldest they had ever tried to counterfeit. Discussing how they would make this appear to be centuries old, they ran in to a bit of a problem. To Lora it seemed that whoever bought what they believed to be a stolen painting would most likely be careful about trying to actually get someone to test how old the painting was. Martin agreed, but said that many rich and corrupt art collectors had scientists and experts in their pay who would perform amateur tests for them.

Surprisingly, Lora's work on Asgard had prepared her for this type of problem.

As they were each taking a side of the canvas, and trying to see how the finished product matched up to the scaled picture of the lost original, she explained to Martin how they could guarantee the picture would pass all of the chemical tests.

"I used to work in a forensic lab," she explained while taking a light over the painting, "and sometimes I had to test how old a sample of blood was from a crime scene, to help narrow down suspects. It was really fascinating, and I even did some experiments to see how to speed up the aging and decomposition of a few substances. So don't worry, with just a few chemicals, I can make sure that anyone who tests this painting for age will be positive it is over 500 years old."

"Look at you!" Martin said appreciatively. "It's a good thing I didn't just forget you and decide to do all of this lucrative scamming myself."

Lora laughed. "I appreciate that. But you ought to congratulate yourself, Martin, for doing such a good job with the painting.

He smiled but didn't say anything.

They had rented a workspace in the city in a building that held a lot of art studios, figuring it would seem natural to everyone if they saw them carrying in art supplies all day long.

A few days later, as Lora was mixing up some chemicals she was going to use for the advanced aging of the artwork, Martin put some of the finishing touches on the painting.

"Looks like it'll be done here in the next week or so."

When Lora agreed with him, he added, "What then?"

She smiled up at him, "We will sell. I have already found a buyer."

"Already? How?" he asked her, the surprise evident in his voice.

"I got a job bartending at this fancy hotel. I meet a lot of rich people eager to buy 'lost' copies of artwork. Of course they think its just stolen or whatever, and it's good that they think that." She took a swig of a bottle of beer that Martin had brought into their workspace.

He surprised her by laughing. "You got a job tending bar?" He laughed again.

"I said I did." She frowned. "Why is that funny?"

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I don't know. I mean, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you just didn't seem like the illegal activity, bartending type when I first saw you. You seemed more like someone who wakes up singing along with the birds. Yet here you are."

"There's nothing wrong with tending bar. How dare you judge me. It doesn't give you the right to look down on me, just because you think you're above that. My Gods!" Lora slammed the bottle down on the table.

"Hey hey hey! Calm down. I wasn't judging you or looking down on you or anything like that. I used to be a bartender, too. I was just saying that I know what it's like and it didn't seem like a job that fit your personality, is all."

"No, you're right. I'm sorry."

"Is something the matter?"

"No….no. There's not. But speaking of tending bar I need to leave now. It's getting late and my shift starts soon."

He said goodbye but she had already slammed the door.

…

It really was a nice bar. Very fancy and atmospheric, a black tie sort of place.

It didn't get very loud here, either.

Mostly there were just people quietly discussing business over a few drinks. Legal business, and _non_-legal.

Just like this man coming up to her now.

She recognized him from a few nights ago as the man who was going to buy their latest imitation.

"Vodka. Your finest." he said sitting down at a stool in front of her.

It really hadn't been as hard as she thought it would be to learn all the Midgardian terms and customs. She wondered if it was just because she was human, but maybe not.

While she poured him his drink, he spoke in a low voice to her, "my buyer has run into some unforeseen complications. He will have to leave the country the day after tomorrow. You will have to bring it to him tomorrow instead. Understood?"

"Yes." She whispered.

For a moment, as Lora started to wipe out some glasses, Lora imagined she was back in Asgard, telling her mother about her two new jobs. _The most stressful thing about my jobs, you ask? Well, mother, for one of my jobs it is really stressful when I don't get tipped. Yes, I know, you think it would be the drunks who get too unruly, but the place is really so fancy that most of the drunks behave themselves. And my other job? Well, I suppose the most stressful aspect of it is that someone discovers you've been cheating them, and decides to have you killed. _

Lora sighed, and settled in for what was looking like what was going to be a long shift.

…

He took on the appearance of tall, curly haired man with glasses, and gave himself a shirt that said, "I heart NY."

When Loki had originally found out where she would be, he had wanted nothing more than to approach her in his full battle armor, horns and cape and all, and angrily confront her right there in the street. But he forced himself to not make a rash decision, remembering that this city in particular might very well easily recognize him, and so it was better for now for him to just try to fit in.

It surprised Loki that she would choose to live in New York, because he knew that she preferred less urban areas; she had told him so on more than one occasion. But after going through the apartment that she lived in when everyone was gone, he decided that it must have been the Asgardian twins that chose to live here. It was so like Lora, to live where everyone else wanted, that he almost smiled. As he strolled around the small living quarters, he went into what he knew must have been her room, from all of the books and way that it was so clean that not a thing was out of place. He was turning his gaze around her room when he saw her bedside table, and he froze.

In a coffee mug, filled with a little water, there was a lone flower that was leaning to one side. Still beautiful, not wilting even a bit, was the purple rose that he had given her so long ago. He went over to gently stroke the side of its velvety surface, and frowned. He was annoyed, terribly irritated, because he could feel himself becoming calmer. He had come to the earth in a temper fit for a god, and now, looking at so many things that reminded him of her, he could feel his anger dissipating.

What a terrible feeling. He had felt this way once before, when he attempted to take control of Midgard, and just as the battle raged in this very city, his brother had begged him to stop the fighting and help him. He had hated that, because at that moment he had wanted nothing more than to listen to his brother, stop the fighting, and return home to Asgard.

But Loki knew there was only one thing to do when he was tempted to feel sentimental, and he had done it then, when he had stabbed Thor in the side with his dagger. He half consciously reached to touch the spot in his coat, where he had put a knife in his inside pocket shortly before coming here. He set his jaw, willing himself to remember his hate, and his anger. He went through her dressers, and after reading the logo on what was clearly a work uniform, strode out of the room with purpose.

And now here he was leaning across the empty street, in the middle of the night, staring out across the road to the hotel and its bar where she must now be.

Loki had been leaning against the wall for hours, but it didn't feel all that long to him, because he was busy thinking all the while.

What was he going to do? He thought he had had a plan. He _always_ had a plan. But not now. Would he walk up to her when she came out, and laugh in her face? Tell her it was good that, pathetic human that she was, she had come to Midgard because he had decided to banish her? Or, would he lie to her? Tell her that her mother had died? Or better, been murdered, because that would really strike a cord with Lora, a person who had fought so hard to rid Asgard of murderers to have her own mother be killed. That was good. That was like something he would usually do. Or would he grab her, and pull her back to Asgard with him, and throw her in the own cell he had spent over a year in? Or would he just take her back to Asgard, and let her go anywhere, so long as she was near? Would he kill her? Could he kill her? He just didn't know.

At that moment, he was pulled out of his thoughts by the jingling of keys. Across the street, a woman was locking the doors to the entrance to the bar, which was separate from the hotel. But he paid no attention to her. Instead, his eyes were drawn to the younger woman standing beside her, holding the woman's coat and purse while she locked the doors. When she was done, the woman said something which made Lora laugh as she took the coat and purse out of her hands. Lora said something in reply, flashing her straight white teeth, before waving goodbye and putting on her own coat, but there was no way Loki was understanding what she was saying. He was just watching her, experiencing her, and rediscovering her. Her purple eyes were shining tonight, illuminated against her dark surroundings. She had cut her hair shorter, he could see, and she looked a little thinner. Or maybe she was just older.

He was very still as he stayed leaning against the wall on the other side of the street.

She pulled her coat tightly around her, and as she walked away from the hotel, she barely paid attention to her surroundings as she stared up at the sky, trying to see the stars, that were all but invisible in this sky.

Loki knew then what his plan was, what his plan had always been, although he had not realized it until this moment. He didn't follow her. He just watched her stroll away.

For now, he would just let her be.


	25. Chapter 24: Dalliances

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**A/N: Thank you all so much for your kind reviews! I'm sorry I didn't have time to respond personally to each one this time. It took longer than I expected for me to find time to write this chapter and so I just wanted to get this out as fast as possible. Thank you all so much for your support and I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 24: Dalliances **

Long before the sun had come out, or even the servants were up and getting ready, Loki was out of bed. He had never needed much sleep, preferring the dark cloak of night, where he could explore and practice magic away from everyone's prying eyes, to the revealing spread of day. His parents were gone now, and his brother too, so really there was no one he needed to hide what he was doing from, but he still used these dark early hours to study or practice before his kingly duties began each day.

Magic. It had always been his greatest joy. Standing now in the basement of the palace library he felt the same joy that he had always felt in all the years when he was a prince and he would sneak down here to practice the dark arts.

And yet, it was-and just a little-less enjoyable now that there was no way that he could be caught, or get into trouble for practicing things that his mother and father would have forbid. He still enjoyed his studies, but he realized now that part of the thrill was the danger of perhaps being caught. His mother had always been warning him when she was alive about what magic was dangerous and which magic was useful; but he had rarely listened. And now he was one of the most powerful sorcerers in the universe. And he had everything he had ever wanted. Almost.

He sighed, looking over at the hourglass. The sun would be coming up now, and it would be time for him to take his seat on the throne that he had fought so hard for. And he would spend the whole day sitting on his chair, being a king, and thinking half the time about sad purple eyes and a sweet smile.

And so he did.

He heard news in the morning and made decisions for the realm. In the afternoon, he met with his councilors, and pretended to listen to their advice.

Listening to Sif, in particular, was a bitter pill to swallow. He had made her an advisor because he knew she was very smart. But partly it was just to appease her. She had always hated him, and she hated him still. But he thought if he could suffer her a few times a week and give her a voice in the ruling of the realm, she might be less suspicious of him. He wasn't sure it was working.

After she had declared for the fifth time that Loki's idea to send soldiers to help dispel the riots they were having in Vanaheim was a terrible one he slammed his fist onto the shiny table, unable to keep his voice lowered any longer.

"What would you have me do, Lady Sif?" He hissed, making everyone in the room jump. "Ignore the help that our allies have requested?"

"You would start a war between the rebels and their sovereign, and you would drag this realm into it, too."

"I am trying to prevent a war!" Loki yelled.

"By sending soldiers?!" Sif responded.

They were both standing up now and shouting at each other.

"Fine, Sif. I command you to go to Vanaheim yourself, to represent me, and put down this rebellion without any bloodshed. And don't return until you do."

After that the meeting cleared, and once Sif's anger had subsided, she discovered that she was pleased that she had been given this assignment. And she realized with wonder, as an afterthought, how well Loki had handled that, and how he hadn't even punished her for raising her voice to the King.

….

In the evening, Loki had supper with some nobles and ambassadors. This, more than any other time, he found himself missing his mother and his brother.

In the past he could take a break from making small talk with all of these people and occasionally converse with his mother about books or magic. Or, if he and Thor were seated near one another, Thor's boisterous words would make Loki laugh and they would plan some kind of shenanigans for later. Now he was the only one left from the family that remained. He knew if Thor or his mother were here right now he wouldn't be king, but he also knew if he hadn't said those things to Lora she could be here now sitting beside him, laughing when he teased her, or listening when he told her about some place that he had traveled that she had asked for him to describe to her.

Later at night, he went to a show. From his grand, lonely box he could see everyone in the concert hall. Families and couples that were all dressed up, older people who went every night to see a show, and a few people, like himself, who were by themselves, listening to the music.

The singer was a lovely, redheaded young woman with freckles and a wide smile. After the show was over, he went down behind the stage and found her. Her whole face turned red when he asked her if she would like him to accompany her home after the show, and she had said yes and eagerly taken his arm as he escorted her away from the hall and to her town home.

He had done this, oh, how many times before? A thousand? Thor, he would spend the night with almost any woman who was pretty and cheerful; Loki had always been pickier. The women he pursued were always special, either in the way they looked, or their talents. They were always particularly intelligent, or, like this singer, they were gifted.

But late that night, as he lay there next to the sleeping woman, tangled up in her curly red hair, he realized this was just another thing that didn't have the same appeal that it had in the past. Now he didn't want just anyone, he wanted someone in particular. For the first time in his life, he wanted to make love with someone that he actually loved. As he quietly slid out of the lady's bed, and he slid his clothes on, he felt sick.

It was the middle of the night, and he was hurrying to get ready, so he wouldn't be late.

…

Across the street, Loki watched Lora close the doors to the bar, like she did at 2:00 am every night that she worked. And every night he came to watch her. He wondered if she realized that every night she always closed first the left door, and then the right, before she locked them both, and put the keys into her bag. Tonight her hair was up in a very messy bun, with stray hairs sticking out everywhere, and she had a stain on her shirt. She had never looked more beautiful; indeed she was even more beautiful than she had looked the night before. But he realized he had that same thought every time he came to see her.

She must have been tired tonight, because she hailed a cab to take her home. He watched her leave, and mentally said goodbye, until the next night that she worked.


	26. Chapter 25: Experiences

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who favorite/followed/reviewed! I'm so sorry for the wait. **

**AltheaGray-Thanks for the review girl! I totally understand the busy thing, since it's been way too long since this story was updated. Thanks for making time****J****. I'm glad you liked those scenes!**

**Pietoraven36- Thank you! And yes, Sif knows it's Loki. A few chapters back it explained everything. I kind of made it that since Thor told everyone Loki saved his life, Loki came back, took Odin's throne secretly, but only masqueraded as him for a little while, and then reveiled himself since most people accepted him because he saved Thor's life. (Although he kept the getting rid of Odin a secret still). I apologize if it wasn't very clear. I didn't think it was a particularly interesting part, so I didn't make it super long when I wrote it; it was a very brief explanation. Thank you so so much!**

**meguhanu- Oh my goodness! Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy this story, your support means so much to me!**

**Kristina44- I know, I know. I am ashamed.:( Some unexpected things came up… but I will start updating quicker I promise! And thank you as always! And here it is!**

**Chapter 25: Experiences**

"Business was booming." The owner of the bar Lora worked at had said that one evening during one of his rare visits. It had been particularly busy that night in the hotel bar, almost every bar stool and table was occupied, and they had had to turn several people away. Lora had remarked how busy it was that night, and the owner, who was cleaning glasses, had said "business is booming" and then winked happily. Lora wasn't familiar with this Midgardian expression, and had asked a coworker named Sally later what the owner had meant by his words.

"Have you been living under a rock your entire life? How do you not know what that means?" Sally asked not looking at her, being too busy cleaning the tables after everyone had left.

"I'm from out-of–town." Lora said.

"Well it just means that business is doing really well. Increasing. Making money and what not."

"Oooohhh."' Lora said, "That makes sense."

"Yeah. Good."

Lora liked that expression, "business is booming" and she used it now, smiling at Martin Massie as they carried a large canvas together down the stairs of the building.

When she said it, he laughed, agreeing. Martin had made more money in the last few months forging art with Lora than he had made in ten years of his life as an independent artist. The thought wiped the smile from his face.

"Why do you think," he grunted as he lifted one end of the painting over a rail, "it is so much easier to do the wrong thing? I've sold more paintings this month then all my other years put together."

Lora said back to him from the other end, " I don't think it's easier to do the wrong thing, although my last boyfriend would probably agree with you." she muttered bitterly, then said more loudly to Martin, "I guess it's just harder for new artists to sell their work. People don't want to buy from someone they have never heard of. If it makes you feel better, when you die your work will probably be worth a fortune."

"That might be sooner than I hope if we don't start being more careful. I've been meaning to talk to you, Lora."

They set down the painting on the floor, taking a break before they carried it the rest of the way.

"What is it?" Lora asked.

"I've been thinking that maybe we should lay low for a little while. This is dangerous business, and if we aren't careful, we could seriously be in trouble."

"We _have_ been careful Martin. You should know by now that I wouldn't do anything to put us in danger."

"I know; but it's not you. It's just the business Lora. It's a dangerous one, and we aren't just goofing around any more, we have a serious operation and there are a lot of powerful people who know us. If one of them were to find out we've been selling them fake art…"

Lora tried to smile, to ease his mind. "First, you know we have never 'goofed around'. We have always been extremely precise and careful. No one, I can promise you, is going to catch us. Second, in case you haven't noticed, we are making an absolutely excessive amount of money lately, and slowing the business down right now would not be a wise business decision. Third, I don't want to stop. I am having fun."

When he didn't respond she asked, "Well aren't you having fun, too?"

She thought she heard him grumble, "I was," under his breath, but she couldn't be quite sure.

He didn't press the matter though, so they continued to do as they had done before.

…

"Can I help you with something?" Lora asked the gentleman sitting at the bar for the third time.

"No thank you." He said once again.

Lora raised an eyebrow at him and then went to go refill another customer's glass.

It was a slow, lazy night at the bar, and the low murmur of voices combined with the gentle rain that could be heard outside made it a pleasant and drowsy evening for Lora.

She chanced a glance back at the gentleman once again. He was watching her again. He was wearing a suit, but his jacket was on his chair and his tie was loosened. He must be staying at the hotel on a business trip; Lora had seen him at the bar for several days past. He always sat and drank alone, but he had never stared at her. Not until tonight.

Lora sighed, put the bottle back under the counter, and marched over to his seat for the fourth time tonight.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I just would like for you to please stop staring at me, or if you choose not to, at least tell me why you're doing it."

When he didn't say anything she huffed and started to walk away, but then he gently called her back, chuckling.

"I apologize. I was staring at you, and it was very rude. I can't promise I'm going to stop, because that would be impossible, but I do apologize for it."

She had the feeling he was trying to be charming, but now she was just annoyed. "And you still won't tell me why?"

He took another sip of his whiskey and raised his hands apologetically in the air. "Well, it's just that I've been in New York for a week, and every night I've stayed at this hotel I've come and had a drink at this bar, and been served by this pretty and well mannered woman with dark hair and bright eyes. But today for the first time this whole week, you are positively glowing. There's a smile that won't seem to leave your face, your eyes are shining, and you are speaking loudly enough for me to hear your voice, which is simply magical, I might add. You seem very happy, you must have had a good day."

She had the feeling that he was exaggerating, but she did know what he was talking about. She _had_ had a good day. She and Martin had made an absolute killing off of the painting, and they had celebrated with a trip to Coney Island, and for the first time in her life Lora had discovered the absolute joy of roller coasters. A dark or depressing thought had not come into her mind the entire day, and that had surely but slowly worked it's magic on her as the day went on and eventually turned to night.

Lora laughed, remembering how high they had been on the coaster, so that she could see out to the statue of liberty.

"I did have a nice day. But you must stop staring. It's making me self-conscious."

"I already told you, I can't do that. Before you were pretty and kind, but happiness really suits you. You're absolutely radiant, and magical. It's enough to drive a man insane."

Lora blushed, unused to such blatant flirting in a long time. "Thank you. You are pretty radiant yourself." And he was. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had short, dark curly hair that combined perfectly with the thick black-framed glasses that stayed over his dark brown eyes.

He smiled, pleased. And then a bit of a shadow crossed his pretty face. "I just hope it wasn't some other man who is responsible for your happiness tonight."

"No, I'm afraid not." Lora said, her face a deep shade of red.

"Well then, you have to save a drink for after the bar closes and let me buy it for you. And until then I'll just sit here and stare."

…..

Lora's first thought, waking up so early that it was just barely still dark, was that the rooms of the hotel she worked at were very nice, and she was glad that she had finally seen one; having up till this moment only been in the bar.

For half a second after that she was confused about where she was, but the heavy arm around her naked waist reminded her and she recalled everything.

She had had just one drink, and sipped on it for over forty minutes while they talked and laughed and flirted and eventually went up to his room.

For a first time, Lora knew, it wasn't half bad, based on other stories and experiences she had heard. The man she spent the night with she had learned was named Henry, and he was as kind and passionate as a woman could hope for in a lover.

Even so, Lora almost wished, as she gently lifted his arm off of her so as to not wake him, that he had been a selfish and arrogant man, so that the feeling she had would make more since just now.

She collected her strewn, wrinkled clothes off the floor and wondered to herself if all people felt this way after their first time; awkward and sort of sad. She had had a pleasant time, but the feeling she had now wasn't near as pleasant. The only thing she could pin it down to was that maybe it hadn't been special enough. She always imagined it being somewhere beautiful, with someone she loved, and laying together in bliss for hours afterword and into the morning. Special. But her mother had told her once, that if you believed that all of your life experiences should be more special than everybody else's, that nothing would ever make you happy. She supposed she was right, although it was often hard for her to heed her mother's advise when her own young heart wanted to follow it's own path, so she decided that time would only tell the way that she truly felt about what had happened last night, and that years later she might look back fondly on what had happened and find it to be very special indeed.

…..

Loki was very, very worried indeed. He had seen Lora go into the hotel bar for work, and since he wasn't tired decided to wait her entire shift for her to get off work and then make sure he saw her make it home safely. But it had been twelve hours now and there was no sign of her.

The rain had been constant the entire evening; early on it was a steady Summer downpour until it slowly became a intense storm, marked with frequent thunder and lightning. But Loki hadn't minded the water or the cold; even the thunder wasn't so bad since he knew that it didn't necessarily mean his brother was around. But he felt like a stupid, worried parent when Lora hadn't left the bar on time.

He had abandoned his usual spot from across the street and was now pacing up and down right in front of the doors to the hotel. It was just so unlike her, to not leave on time. She was such a routine person. And he was never worried about her protecting herself, she was strong and had plenty of experience dealing with disgruntled criminals when she had lived in Asgard. But she could be too sweet and trusting sometimes. Wasn't befriending him proof enough of that?

There were only three scenarios that really seemed possible to him.

One, the heavy rain and cover of night had made him just miss her, and she had already left early and he had just not seen her leave. Two, she had acted very unlike herself, and rented a warm room at the hotel to wait out the storm. He preferred to think this was what happened, but it just didn't seem quite like Lora. Which brought him to three, the only likely explanation, someone killed her and cut her up into a million pieces and was probably going to sneak her out of the hotel in a suitcase before throwing her remains into the dumpster.

And that was it. He was going in to find her. And if he couldn't find her in this building, then he would probably just have to search every spot on the rest of this realm.

The rain had let up now, and it was so early in the morning that the Sun should be coming up any moment soon. He was making his way over to the doors, when one of them creaked open. He physically felt his heart beat when he saw Lora leaning her body against the door to open it while fumbling around with her coat buttons.

He took a few steps back so she wouldn't see him, but it became apparent that stealth was hardly necessary at the moment as Lora was extremely distracted.

Her hair was a wild tangled mess, and what lipstick she had probably had on earlier in the day was smeared across half of her face, and most noticeably, she was too exhausted to hardly walk. She appeared to have not had much sleep, although she had most definitely rented a hotel room to wait out the storm like he had supposed. Loki wondered if maybe she didn't like thunder. He couldn't be sure, because they hadn't had time to talk about everything back when she was putting on his chains in Asgard, but it seemed like an explanation for her weariness and disheveled appearance.

He waited for Lora to get a good head start on him, and then began to supervise her walk back to her apartment. Her walking was scattered and off balance, not to mention her bag was wide open and half falling off of her arm.

After they had walked a few blocks Loki began to notice that he wasn't the only person following her. Well, it hadn't taken a few blocks for him to notice, Loki had of course noticed immediately, but he had waited to see if the man who was following Lora was going in the same direction as her or if he were indeed stalking her. Unfortunately, it was the latter.

Loki cursed under his breath. She had worked in criminal investigation for years. She had told him, at his own prodding, horror stories about things that she had seen at work back when they used to talk for hours in his cell. How could she be so stupid to walk through the city in the middle of the night barely conscious? Why hadn't she taken one of those ugly yellow cabs home?

Loki wondered, as he waited for the man to turn a corner before grabbing him and putting his hand over his mouth and whispering in his ear, "let's you and I take a walk this _way," _if the man had wanted to kill Lora, or hurt her in some other way. More than likely he had been intent on the purse that was hanging haphazardly down her arm.

Loki had the thought, as he dragged the man into a dark alley and shoved his back against a wall, that he had changed since he had met Lora. There were irritating instances every now and then when he was about to do something bad, but then he would think about her and in his mind he would see her react to what he was about to do, usually when it was something he knew was wrong. More often than not it was the look on her face when he had shoved her away from him after learning that she was a human that he would see in his mind. It was the look he hated more than anything in the world, and he never wanted to see it again. So whenever he would see it in his mind, he would always feel compelled to do whatever he knew she would approve of.

It didn't happen all that often, for which he was very grateful, because if he saw her face every time he tried to make a decision he'd be as pure and weak as his brother Thor.

And he was especially grateful that he couldn't see it now, as he crushed the man's neck with his bare hands, because he was sure that she definitely would not approve of this.

As he dropped the man's lifeless body into the puddle on the ground, he smirked and wiped his hands. _Some things, after all, never change. _And with that he went to find Lora again to make sure she made it home safely the rest of the way.


	27. Chapter 26: Realizations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**A/N: Thank you for all the people who favorited/followed/ reviewed last chapter! **

**Chapter 26: Realizations**

A few weeks passed after her night with Henry, but something just wasn't the same. She wasn't sure if it was because of that night, or if it was because she couldn't forget what Martin had said, that they needed to slow down because what they were doing was dangerous. But Lora hadn't felt that different after her night with Henry, so it probably wasn't that, and what Martin had said wasn't really what had upset her, but her own reaction to that, when she had told him that she was having fun and didn't want to stop.

There was something thrilling about doing something so illegal and dangerous, but ever since she and Martin had spoken she had not felt like she was having as much fun anymore. Truth be told, what she and Martin did took a lot of work, almost as much work as her old job in Asgard. Except then she was doing something she was proud of, that she knew was helping people, something that she had loved. She wasn't so sure that she loved forging art anymore. She was working just as hard as she had to do something stupid. And the worst part was she was doing it for money and thrills. _If my mother could see me now_, Lora thought, _she would probably cry. _But then, she might be crying anyway. Even if Helga wasn't her biological mother, how could Lora have just been so cruel to leave out of the blue? The woman had loved her and raised her and done nothing at all wrong.

All these things began to pray on her mind, until she walked around with a bad feeling that left her sad and just wouldn't go away. Even the twins noticed that something was wrong with her, busy and uncaring as they were.

"Is something the matter, Lora?" Dagny asked on one of she and her sister's rare mornings off.

"We've noticed that you have been spending an awful lot of time lately in bed." Erica continued.

"I'm fine, I've just been tired." Lora mumbled.

"Well, we could take a look at you if you want," Erica said, putting her magazine down.

Dagny nodded her head in agreement. "We've learned quite a bit of medical knowledge since our time here, and we could make sure that nothing is wrong."

"I don't think you will find anything wrong with me," Lora whispered.

"You know what?!" Dagny said, almost jumping out of her seat, "we could go to a party tonight!"

"What a great idea Dagny!" Erica said smiling at her twin and at Lora. "One of the doctors at the hospital is having a huge bachelorette party on the other side of the city, and she invited us to go."

"What's a bachelorette party?" Lora said.

"She said it's just where before a women gets married she does a lot of wild things to get it out of her system before she has a husband. Men have one too, but I think it's called something different." Erica explained.

"That sounds stupid."

"Stupider than lying in bed all day when you aren't working?" Dagny said.

As angry as that made Lora, she had to admit the girl made a good point. "Fine, I'll come. But I'm not staying very long, and I'm not wearing any of those pointy shoes that are so hard to walk in."

"Deal!" The twins said simultaneously. Erica told her what time to be ready, and then she and her sister went to go shop for a present for the lucky bride.

…

"I thought you said that this was a girl's party?" Lora hissed to Dagny.

"It is!" Dagny said distractedly, looking for a place to put the gift.

"Then who are all these men?"

"Oh, those are just strippers."

"Strippers?" Lora asked.

"They just dance with their clothes off for money. Speaking of which, here are some bills in case you need to pay one."

"Hey, no! Take these bills back, I do not want a dancing naked man!" Lora tried to give the money back to her friend but she and her sister went away once they saw the bride.

Lora decided the party wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. The neon lights of the building made everything look strange, but in an interesting way. There were a lot of people at the party; apparently the woman who was getting married seemed to have invited everybody she knew and then some, because there were at least a few hundred people there.

The strippers made Lora blush, and the dirty gifts made her laugh. She discovered that a lot of things finally made since to her since she had had sex for the first time. After some cake and champagne Lora found herself more lighthearted than she had felt in weeks.

She was dancing awkwardly to the strong beat, and laughing with Erica when a man came up and asked her to dance with him. Erica smiled and raised her eyebrows, then took a few steps away to give her and the man some privacy.

"Oh, no thank you," Lora said. "I already gave all my money to that dark haired stripper."

The man, who was fully dressed, just laughed. "I'm not a stripper, actually. I'm a nurse at the hospital. Elizabeth (who, Lora had learned, was the name of the bride) invited some of us guys to the party anyway. She told us there would be some beautiful women here. But I have to tell you, I was starting to think she was lying until I saw you."

"Ah. Well, I'm actually here with my friend right now and I don't think she wants to be left alone. Right Erica?" Lora said.

Erica laughing, shook her head. "Actually, I think that I see someone from work over there. You two have a nice time." She ignored Lora's horrified look and winked at her before strolling away.

"So what do you do for work?" The man said shouting over the music.

"What?" Lora said.

"WORK!" The man shouted, still smiling.

"Oh, that." Lora instantly felt awful again, being at this party full of doctors and nurses, and knowing that she used to work in a similar field, but now she had to tell the man that she bartended at a hotel.

He didn't act like he thought less of her for it, but it was Lora's personal pride that was damaged.

He was very nice, though. He told her about his job and asked her questions about herself. A few hours later they had danced and talked and flirted so much that it didn't seem at all unnatural when he put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her passionately.

Lora returned the kiss, and smiled at him when she pulled back and opened her eyes.

"Where did you learn to kiss like that?" The man whispered dreamily to her, his eyes still closed."

Lora laughed softly. "Well I-oh, damn."

"What is it?" The man asked.

"Oh nothing, it's just my roommate is looking over here laughing.

When the man looked back and saw Dagny he started laughing as well. "She's probably just gloating about her success as matchmaker."

"What do you mean?" Lora said.

"Well, she told me to come up to you and ask you to dance. She said you were very pretty and funny. And she was right." He pulled his arms around her and tried to bring her in for another kiss, but Lora pushed him away and marched up to Dagny, the pulsing beat of the music matching her every step."

"What the hell?" said Lora.

"What?!" Said Dagny, "Don't you like him?"

"How dare you try to set me up. If I wanted a man, I would find one for myself, you nosy tramp."

"Hey, hey! Who are you calling tramp you lazy jerk? I just thought he was nice and that you would like each other! I was trying to do you a favor!" Dagny shouted.

"If you really wanted to do me a favor you could mind your own business and stay out of my life."

"Oh, wow, well that's kind of hard to do while you're living in my apartment."

Erica, who had heard the girls shouting at one another, stepped up between them. "Hey, come on, people, this is a party we should-"

When Erica used one of her arms to gently pull Lora back, Lora shoved her away and Erica fell back, smashing her martini glass into the floor.

"Oh, that's enough." Dagny said, and jumped on Lora.

They only managed to get a few punches in before they were separated. As Lora stomped out of the room, Dagny called after her that she would be gone during the day tomorrow so she could come get her stuff out of the apartment.

…..

Since it didn't seem like being at the apartment when the twins came home was a good idea, Lora decided to go and sleep in the workshop she and Martin rented for the night.

Before she could switch on the light a hand reached out and grabbed her throat.

Unable to scream, Lora just gasped for air and clutched the hand at her throat, trying to pull it away. When that didn't work, she bit down hard on the hand.

She heard a deep male voice gasp before the hand dropped her. Lora scrambled up to her feet, but when she did a second person came up behind her and grabbed her. She struggled once again, but the first body hit her in the head with something hard, and she faded to black.

….

When Lora woke up the first thought she had was why she couldn't feel her arms. As her eyes started to focus in the bright room she realized she was tied tightly to a chair. A man, when she started to stir, said, "Oh, good, you're up," and put down his newspaper and left the room.

She was still confused minutes later when the man came back and untied her.

"Where am I?" Lora asked.

The man didn't answer.

After a moment he opened the door and led her down a hallway. Lora had been to the palace in Asgard several times, yet she wasn't very familiar with how the very wealthy of Earth lived. Even so, her glimpse at the plush carpet and art on the walls of the hallway she was walking through belonged to a very expensive living space.

Her thoughts were confirmed when the man opened a door and she went inside a huge study that was adorned with all sorts of famous art and expensive furniture.

She only had a moment to admire the room, because the people in the room demanded her attention.

She recognized one of the three men as someone who had come into the bar weeks ago, asking about a painting. She and Martin had sold him one of their forgeries, although he said he was just making the exchange for his boss. He was standing on one side of a huge wooden desk, and Lora figured the man on the other side of the desk, who was sitting down in a large green chair, was the boss.

When he saw her he stood up out of his chair and came around the other side.

"You must be Loralai. My name is Nelson."

He made a signal to his assistant, who brought out something from against the wall.

"Remember this?" he held up the painting that Lora and Martin had made.

_Uh-Oh_

"Yes, I do." Lora said uncertainly.

"And do you also remember this?"

He pointed to the other side of the room, where she saw Martin sitting on the couch looking terrified. He gave her a little wave.

"Yes, I remember that too."

"It seems to me that my assistant here bought this painting a month ago, the people who sold it to me claiming it was an original Raphael, and I paid very well for it. But when I had its age tested last week, just to be sure, my people told me that it couldn't possibly have been that old, that at the very oldest this painting was a year old."

"That doesn't sound right. Your people must have made a mistake." Lora said, trying to sound casual.

It wasn't the right thing to say. Nelson pulled a pistol out of his coat and went over to Martin, pointing it at his head.

"Drop the pretenses. The only thing you need to tell me now is which one of you wants to die first."

Lora threw her hands into the air. "Okay, okay! Whoa, whoa, whoa, um…listen… why don't we try and work this out first, hmm?"

Nelson laughed. He did not lower his gun but he did take a step away from Martin and toward her.

"Oh really? What do you suggest?"

Lora smiled. "Well, for instance, I work at a bar. I can give you twenty percent off on every other drink you buy."

Incredulous, he took a few more steps toward her. "Are you making fun of me?"

"No, no, of course not. I think once you try one of my cocktails you will realize you are getting the better end of the bargain."

When he was right in front of her, she said, "Or we could pay you back, every dime, right Martin?"

Martin squeaked out his assent from his seat on the couch, but Nelson just smiled.

"We'll get the money back from you, but you won't be alive to see it."

He cocked the pistol and put it to Lora's head.

Lora silently thanked the heavens that his guard was down because no one took her seriously, and punched the gun off of her head where it scattered across the floor.

Nelson and Lora both dived for it, but Martin was even closer.

He jumped off the couch and grabbed the gun.

He fired several shots, both in the direction of the assistant and Nelson, and after the room was smoky he grabbed Lora and they made a dash for the door.

"This way!" he shouted, holding her arm. They ran back through a different hallway and through another door.

"Why are we running?!" Lora shouted, before the sounds of more gunfire drowned their voices out. "I thought you shot them!"

"I shot at them. I think. I've never fired a gun before!" Martin said. They ran out of the apartment and into the stairwell, where he pulled her up the stairs.

"Shouldn't we-you no- maybe go down the stairs, so we can escape?"

"Trust me on this, I think up is safer. They will never suspect."

Lora grumbled but obeyed. Although the roof was much closer than the ground, she was still out of breath by the time they scrambled to the top and huddled behind an air conditioning unit.

They were quiet for a long time, trying to muffle their heavy breaths so they could listen for feet following them.

They were up there for an hour without hearing anything, when Martin suddenly realized that Lora was crying.

"Lora?" he whispered cautiously, "Are you alright?" They had just had a very trying time, but Lora surprised him by admitting a completely different reason for crying.

"What I am doing here?" Lora said miserably when she was calm enough.

"You're here with me, running away from gangsters." Martin said, smiling haphazardly.

"You know what I mean. What are we doing, doing this for?"

"Money?" Martin guessed.

"I've never cared for money. Ever. The only thing I cared about was my work, my real work, and my family, and now it's too late to ever have those things again."

Martin sighed and leaned back against the air conditioner. "Well, I'm not sure what happened to you, and I don't fully know your story. I've always felt though that you weren't native to New York, that there was something strange about you."

He took her silence for assent when Lora didn't say anything.

He went on, "You know, Lora, you may think you can't have your family back, but it's never really too late. As long as you're alive, it's never too late."

….

"What is this all about Lora?" Erica asked.

"Yes, what?" Dagny answered.

"I'll tell you, but I want to be sure first that you forgive me for the other night."

"Of course we forgive you Lora."

"We never expect to much from you." Dagny said.

From the twins that was as good as an apology. So she told them about her plans to return to Asgard.

It took an hour for the twins to even warm up to the idea.

"Why would you want to return to Asgard Lora? We thought you were enjoying New York so well."

"I was, I certainly am. But I don't belong here. Not like you all do. My work is in Asgard."

"But…aren't you going to miss us?" Erica asked, barely holding back her tears.

"Yes, what will we do without you Lora?" Dagny added.

Lora went over to them and gathered them in a great big hug. "Of course I'll miss you all. Being back home will be certainly less fun without you all, but I have to go anyway. And don't worry, you all will be able to take care of yourselves just fine."

"But…when will we see you again?"

Lora smiled. "Whenever you come for a visit home! By then I'll be back in Asgard."


	28. Chapter 27: Returns

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**Chapter 27: Returns**

When Lora arrived back in Asgard, courtesy of the same smuggler who had taken her away over a year ago, the first thing she did was go back to her old lab.

Well, not the first thing. First she went and bought some new clothes so that she could fit in again, dumped her earth clothes away somewhere, and _then_ went to her old lab.

Everyone, from the doorman to her colleagues were surprised to see her. They all grilled her about where she had been, and what she had been doing. Lora smiled and avoided most of their questions, she wasn't sure yet if she wanted anyone to know where she had actually been. As she went up to the top floor of the building, where she had worked, she was pleasantly surprised when she turned around after someone said her name.

There was her old assistant, Ragna, smiling at her.

"Ragna!" Lora cried, "You still work here!"

"Yes." Ragna said, but although she was still smiling, her smile was smaller now and she looked almost…guilty. At least that was what Lora thought. There was something different about the way she looked now but she just couldn't put her finger on what it was.

"I'm glad." Lora said, more cautiously now. And she couldn't help herself from stepping forward and giving her old assistant a small hug.

Eydis, the woman who used to oversee all of the work that she did, shuffled into the room at that minute and delayed any further conversation between Lora and her old assistant.

"Lorelai Haraldsdottir!" Eydis cried in a booming voice. "Someone ran up to tell me that you were back in Asgard, and I came down here fully prepared to give the page extra duties for spreading false rumors, and what do I find but that he was telling the truth! Where've you been all this time girl?!" She went up and grappled Lora up in a giant hug. Eydis was a big woman, and it was a moment before Lora could answer her, but by then the woman had started going on again. "I bet you were in Vanaheim weren't you? Chasing after those good-looking Vanaheim men. Why, if I was a younger lady myself-"

Ragna coughed loudly into her hand, getting Eydis' attention. Sometimes the woman would talk for hours unless someone reminded her to stay on track. Since Lora had been away for so long, she didn't feel comfortable reminding her old boss herself, so she shot a thankful glance at Ragna for doing it for her. Ragna winked back, but the guilt was still there.

"Lora, why don't we go into my work room and discuss some things shall we?" Eydis said.

"I would like that."

Eydis' office was very nice, although she hardly ever spent time in it. The woman had difficulty sitting still, and even now was pacing nervously and coming to stand in front of the large window that encompassed an entire wall. From the window you had a good view of the palace from here, and Lora waited for Edyis to speak while she tried to avoid thinking about the palace and anyone who may or may not be there at the moment.

Suddenly the silence was broken without warning when Eydis said, "Lora, we gave your job to Ragna."

"What? I mean, Oh? I'm sorry, I'm just surprised."

Eydis turned to face her sheepishly.

"Well you were gone for a very long time and no one knew what happened to you. It was only natural that we would give it to Ragna."

"No I understand. I really do. It's no trouble at all really."

Lora started to take up her leather pack and leave.

"No, no not so fast! If you still want to work here we would love to have you. I can find something for you, I just won't be able to give you your old job back."

"Oh something else would be fine! Perfect, even. I just wanted something again in the line of my old tasks. I don't care what they are."

"Oh, good. Well you can start tomorrow morning when I find something. It really is a shame. Normally we would have been able to maybe squeeze the funds to have both you and Ragna working here full time, but things have changed since you've been gone. It's the new King. Oh, my it _has _been a long time since you've been gone. Did you know that we have a new king now? Odin died a while ago; right after Thor left and went to live on Earth. We figure it must have broken his heart. But they made the other son Loki, (you remember him, he was the dark haired one always getting into trouble) king instead. They say he saved the lives of his brother and his woman Jane and that he was a hero. But as I was saying, (are you alright dear? You look a little bit pale…), crime is so much lower now since he has been ruling. Punishments are so much harsher now that it's cut down almost by half our work. Which is a good think, although some people argue that the new punishments are cruel. What I think-"

"Eydis, thank you so much for giving me another chance. I really do have to leave now, I'm meeting some people at the University to see if I can complete my degree."

"Oh of course! Well run along dear I didn't mean to keep you for so long! Tell me how it goes! No don't tell me, I know it will go well, I-"

…..

So that was how Lora ended up being Ragna's new assistant. Ragna had been looking for someone to fill her old position, and since it was such low pay it was all right for Lora to take it.

And it was nice, because Lora only had to do a few weeks of classes to receive her degree now, and after that Eydis told her that she could probably find a full time position in Vanaheim.

Lora wasn't sure yet if she wanted to move that far away so soon after she returned, but she decided that it wouldn't be for forever, after all, if she did.

Now she was walking along all of the shops and stores that she used to go along so frequently. Lora wanted to have all of the things she needed for work and her last bit of school before she went to see her mother.

Even more than asking for her job back, seeing her mother again worried Lora. Would she forgive her? Would she let her stay with her again? Would she even love her still?

Lora was thinking so intently she didn't hear when someone spoke to her.

She turned sharply to look, and there, smiling at her, was Aric, the man from the art gallery all that time ago.

For a minute Lora was so surprised she couldn't speak.

Aric laughed, throwing his head back. "I've figured out if you want to find something you have to stop looking."

"Stop looking?" She asked, still mostly speechless.

"Yes. Not too long after we met, I approached your grandfather and asked about you. He said you were away but he wouldn't say where. I've been asking around ever since but I've never seen or heard of you until now, when I chanced by you in this shop."

"You've been asking after me?" She asked, blushing.

"I have." He said. "Are you going to tell me where you've been?" He was still smiling.

For a minute Lora was humorless again. "I'm back now." Was all she would say.

"Well I'm glad."

Lora began to walk with him out of the door of the store, and Aric followed her out, his golden curls looking brighter in the sunshine.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You know, you've caused quite a bit of trouble for me. Or at least something you said did."

"I have?"

"Mmmmhmmm." But when he pressed further she wouldn't go into details.

Finally he asked, "I had hoped to ask you to have dinner sometime with me…"

"Did you?" Lora said, not looking at him so he couldn't see her smile.

He laughed once again. Lora realized that Aric was just an exceedingly happy person.

"I'm sorry, but I have business to attend to now. Maybe you should keep looking."

And with that she strolled away.

…..

In New York City, Dagny and Erica slept in identical twin beds in their apartment in the same room, as they had since they were children.

Unfortunately for Dagny, her bed was closest to the door, so she was the one who was woken up being shaken in the middle of the night.

She was also being yelled at, but it took her foggy tired mind a few minutes to understand what the intruder was saying.

"Where is she? What have you done with her?"

Both of her arms were in a strong grip and she was being rattled around so her head was shaking back and forth.

"Who?" She said wiping her eyes.

The man holding her gave her another shake. "Don't play stupid with me, you dumb girl. Lora of course! Where is she? She hasn't been to work or this apartment in days. No one has seen her but they say you were fighting with her. What did you do to her? Kill her? Drown her? Tell me now!"

Erica, from the other side of the room, yawned. "Who is that, Dagny?"

"I don't know, Erica." Dagny said groggily. She looked closer at the man holding her. She saw he had shoulder length jet black hair and bright green eyes. "Prince Loki?" Dagny asked.

"Answer my questions!"

"Oh, Lora went back to Asgard." Erica answered from her side, before turning on her side and attempting to go to sleep again.

Loki dropped Dagny, and walked into the middle of the room between the two beds.

"Back in Asgard?"

"Mmm hmmm." One of them murmured. "She's been gone-"

"-a week now." The other answered.

Loki stood there for a moment, thinking. He started to ask them another question, but they were both snoring now, and the question was ridiculous anyway.

Loki walked back out of the door, and the apartment altogether.

_Back in Asgard. _


	29. Chapter 28: Nuances

**Disclaimer: Not only do I not own Thor or Marvel, but this story is also not for profit. **

**Author's Note: I wanted to thank everyone who favorited/followed the last chapter, and especially for the super kind reviews. Seriously, I don't know what I did in the last chapter that made me deserve so many kind reviews, especially from guest reviewers, but I need to try and do it again!**

**Chapter 28: Nuances**

Of course her mother forgave her.

Because her mother didn't know she was back in Asgard until Lora showed up at her door, Lora figured that the initial shock and happiness would make up for any ill feelings her mother might have fostered about her leaving. Lora didn't know it, but her mother wouldn't have been angry no matter which way she decided to return home. Lora didn't have children and she didn't understand yet that a mother's love wasn't something that went away the first time a child made a bad decision, but grew stronger because of it.

The first night she returned, Helga had just hugged her and cried and cried before tucking Lora into her old room and letting her get some sleep.

She still was concerned about her daughter. Anything that would make a child leave home for so long probably didn't go away overnight, and there were a lot of questions Helga had for her daughter.

Thankfully, Helga didn't have to be the one to say something. Lora surprised her by bringing it up herself on the second night after her return home.

"They're letting me finish the rest of my schooling. It'll only be a few weeks. And in the meantime I'm working again as an assistant at the lab."

Her mother was speechless as she sat down next to Lora on a cushioned seat and handed her daughter a steaming cup of tea.

"How did this happen?"

"I fixed it all when I came back… before I came home."

"Well that's wonderful, sweet. You didn't need to you know, if you didn't want to. If you wanted to do something else instead, anything, it would be fine. I mean, if you weren't happy with your old job, and you wanted to change, it's not too late."

"Thanks, mother. My old job wasn't the problem, I just thought it was." That was all Lora said about that, and her mother decided not to pry any further. If Lora ever wanted to tell her, she would tell her when she was ready.

There was a little silence as they sipped their drinks, and then Lora said, "So… has anyone asked about me?"

Laughing, Helga said, "Of course. Your grandfather was absolutely distraught; he was the only one else who knew where you really were. Everyone else was just sad that you were gone. I told most people that you were doing some work across the sea."

"Huh." Lora said. "Did… father happen to ask about me?"

"Yes." Helga answered in a small voice. "He was very worried, too."

For want of longer explanation, Lora doubted her father had actually been that worried. Her mother changed the subject with a smile.

"You do realize, don't you, that your grandfather will expect you to visit him as soon as possible?"

Lora returned her smile. "We can both go as soon as you want. I want to see him soon, too. I missed him."

Her mother set down her cup. "We can go right now, if you wish. We could catch him in time for dinner."

"That's a good idea." She followed her mother in setting her cup down and going to lace up their shoes. "But are you sure we should barge in on him like this?"

"He won't mind!" Her mother said wrapping herself up in a shawl.

As they stepped out of the house, her mother's face unexpectedly lit up. "I almost forgot! Someone else asked after you; you'll never guess who."

"It wasn't a young man named Aric was it? Curly, dirty blond hair and a little scruffy?"

"No, actually, but who is this? You've never mentioned a young man named Aric before."

"Please, mother, I really don't want to discuss him. He's just a person who knows grandfather, that's all."

"You usually don't blush when you discuss your grandfather's associates."

"So, um, who was it?" Lora said, stepping out someone's way on the street, and attempting to change the subject.

"King Loki."

Lora accidentally bumped into a vendor and knocked over some of his wares. She apologized and then turned to her mother. "What?"

"You heard me right. King Loki himself; isn't that something?"

Lora looked around trying to avoid her mother's gaze. Was there anyway to change the subject without inviting the conversation further? If there was Lora couldn't remember how.

"I mean, I knew that you had worked in the prisons and spoken with him, but I didn't realize you made such an impression on him."

"Oh I'm sure I didn't." Lora muttered.

"Of course you did, don't be so humble. To think, the king himself came here!"

"Mmmhmm."

"But do you know something? Everyone's always talking about the older son, but I was quite intimidated by the younger one when he came to the house. On his own, he is also quite tall and handsome, not to mention very well spoken. I just never noticed before, because whenever I would see him at parades and ceremonies he was always standing next to his brother, and it made it difficult to tell. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes, I know exactly what you mean."

"So what was he like personally, when you knew him in prison, before he became king?"

Uncomfortable as she was, Lora couldn't resist softly laughing. "Oh mother," she said taking her mother's arm and pulling her down the street her grandfather lived on, "you're killing me."

…..

After all of the hugs and kisses that she and her grandfather shared upon their reunion, the three of them soon settled back into their normal routine. They all shared some drinks and appetizers in the receiving room while they waited for dinner. Lora was thankful that there were plenty of appetizers, because her grandfather informed she and her mother that dinner was going to take longer than usual to make, because he was having the servants make up something special for her.

"I wish you wouldn't make them go to all of that fuss, grandfather."

"If it were up to you, precious, I would never get to fuss over you at all, and that would hardly be grandfatherly."

Lora sighed while her mother laughed.

Her grandfather was eager to know all about Midgard, and as Lora was in the middle of describing to the both of them just what a rollercoaster was, there was a knock on the door.

The servants showed the guest into the receiving room and her grandfather laughed and immediately got up to embrace the guest.

"Aric! My young friend! What brings you here tonight?"

"I came to discuss some of the new exhibits at the gallery, but I didn't know you were about to have dinner. I'm terribly sorry; I don't want to disturb you. I'll be on my way."

"Nonsense; of course you must stay for dinner! Here, let me introduce you to my daughter and my granddaughter."

Her grandfather shuffled the young man into the room and he shook hands with Lora and her mother. "I've heard so much about both of you." He told them as he took a chair next to her grandfather.

Helga beamed. "I've heard so much about you too, and it's nice to meet you as well."

From his seat, Aric winked at Lora as her mother and grandfather started to discuss something else. Lora herself was still staring open mouthed at him. Soon, however, the shock faded to annoyance, and Lora crossed her arms and ignored Aric.

Time seemed to pass even slower after that, with Aric smiling teasingly at Lora while she tried to concentrate on what her mother was talking about.

Finally, they were ushered into the dining room by the servants, where the entire tabled was heaped with all of Lora's favorite foods.

"We decided to give Lora a little treat tonight. " Her grandfather explained as Aric inquired about why the supper ranged from sugary candy to fruit with all of the skins cut off.

"Well, what a coincidence, my favorite drink is blueberry wine as well. "Aric said, picking up his glass and looking at Lora.

Lora, who had been in the middle of her sip, spat her wine back into her cup.

Her grandfather didn't notice, but her mother, who didn't understand, kicked Lora under the table and muttered under her breath for her to act like a lady.

"Fine." Lora hissed back.

She suffered through dinner and afterwards didn't stay around to talk with her grandfather like they usually did, but dragged her mother out of his house.

They were making their way back to their own home, when someone called to Lora from behind.

They both turned and saw Aric waving them back.

"I think he means you." Lora told her mother.

"Nice try." Helga said. "I'll be waiting at the house. You go ahead and find out what he wants."

She angrily waited for Aric to catch up to her while she watched her mother walk away.

"Are you upset about something?" was the first thing he asked.

"Well… let me think…yes." Lora said rolling her eyes.

"Why?"

"Just what did you think you were doing back there?"

"Having dinner with you."

"You know my mother and grandfather were both there, so it wasn't exactly what you had in mind."

"The only thing I had in mind was having dinner with you, and for your information I didn't mind that your family was there. It was enough to just be spending time with you. And besides, I like them both."

Lora couldn't help but blush as she turned to walk back to her mother's house. "Well, you do know the right things to say, don't you?"

Aric, who was walking with her, smiled sheepishly at his shoes. "I was just being honest. Can I walk you back home?"

Lora murmured assent, and then again, when she was at her doorway, and he asked her if he could kiss her and see her later sometime.

…

"The king looks to be in a foul mood today," Fandral whispered to Volstagg from behind his hand as the king made his way swiftly down the halls, his cape flying behind him and his eyes flashing.

"When is he ever not in a foul mood?" Volstagg "whispered" back. Fandral cringed. The largest of the warriors three had never really learned the trick of whispering insults quietly.

Fandral waited until the king was gone, to breathe a sigh of relief that he had not heard and then turned to agree with Volstagg.

"Of late, though, he seems rather preoccupied."

Volstagg, who had his mouth full of some pastry a servant had been carrying on a dish a moment before, nodded his head vigorously. But Lady Sif, who had just come up behind them and had heard Fandral's words, rolled her eyes.

"Of course he's preoccupied, you idiots. Who wouldn't be preoccupied when they owe their throne to lies and death."

"Now Sif, be fair. There's no evidence that Odin's death was anything other than natural. And we all saw Thor before he left and we know his decision to return to Earth was true."

"It's just a little too convenient to me that Loki,_ Loki_ of all people, was rewarded with the throne from the All father before his death for "acting nobly."

"He did act nobly though," Volstagg, ever the optimist, put in. "We all saw how he went with Thor to go save Asgard and avenge his mother's death."

Sif was silent for a moment. "Well," she said finally, "a few good deeds could scarcely even out his infinitely long list of bad deeds."

"Still upset about your hair Sif?" Volstagg winked.

Sif's face immediately flushed red. "Of course not. All I'm saying is that I'm not convinced Loki really should be on the throne of Asgard. After all, why weren't we allowed to see Odin's body at the funeral?"

"You know very well Sif that King Loki didn't want his subjects to see the body of our beloved All-Father in death. It would upset everyone."

"I'm just not convinced."

"I think you're just jealous that it wasn't you that the All-Father rewarded with the throne." Fandral said.

In typical Sif fashion, she was too angry to answer and so she just turned away on her heel.

Fandral and Volstagg watched her go, and then resumed their walk to the training grounds.

"In any case, he does seem a little upset lately." Fandral said.

And after a moment he continued, "I scarcely care if he is upset or not, however. As long as he stays out of trouble and keeps on doing what he is supposed to do, it doesn't really matter."

Sensing that Fandral was done speaking, Volstagg seized an opportunity to change the subject. Smiling and putting his arms around the smaller man he cried, "Well said, my friend! Now let's go find something to eat."

…..

_It was true what Volstagg said_, Loki thought, _I am never in a very good mood_. But Fandral was correct also in sensing that something had been bothering Loki as of late.

The big man had unknowingly insulted Loki many times in his booming voice, but Fandral unbeknownst to himself was not much better at keeping his insults quiet.

Loki scarcely cared. He was used to it.

In fact a few things were on his mind, but not the things that Sif suspected.

For maybe one of the first times in his life, Loki _almost_ wished that Thor were here.

If there were anyone he could have spoken to about his complicated feelings for a mortal woman, Thor would have been one Asgardian who would have understood.

Of course he wouldn't have actually spoken to Thor about it. But knowing that he could have if he had wanted to would have been a comfort.

Slouched in his throne, Loki sighed.

All that awful time she had been on Earth. Away from Asgard, away from him, away from safety. All that awful time, and now that she was back it was almost just as awful.

While Lora was in New York, he could at least dream that one day she would return and he could fix things between them. But now that she was actually back, he knew he had just been lying to himself about his ability to fix their problems.

Their problems were deep. And if he was being honest, which he never was, then he would maybe have to agree that most of the problem was his fault.

But not that she didn't have her fair share of the blame. After all, she was the one who had refused to let him help her. It would have been so easy to fix her cursed humanity, and she had simply overreacted. And she was the one who had still not made any contact since their disagreement. And most importantly, she was the one who had been seeing someone else since her return.

Aric. The stupid boy. Loki wanted to kill him. The worst part of the matter was that he _knew _Aric from back in the good old days. Loki had never liked him much. He hated inherent goodness in anyone other than women. The man had been cousins or classmates with Sif or something, and Thor had liked him very much so he was invited a few times to go with all five of them for drinks or other debaucheries. He remembered his stupid curly hair and his honest eyes. How could she choose to be with someone like him over someone like himself? Loki had scarcely even looked at a woman since their fight. Then, remembering the opera singer, he knew that that was not completely true. But still. That had just been lust, had it not? A primitive urge, not a matter of the heart. But Loki knew that Lora's courtship with Aric was scarcely a matter of primitive urges. Lora never did anything without putting her whole heart into it. It was one of the things that he loved about her.

Groaning, Loki sat up a little.

The guards turned at the noise, but he waved their concern away with a hand. He was fine.

Or at least, he would be.

It was time to be a man. A king.

It was time to set matters straight with Lora-before it was too late.


	30. Chapter 29: Confrontations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**Author's Note: Thank you everybody who favorited and followed the last chapter. Your support means so much! Also a special thanks to pietroraven and the other guests who reviewed the last chapter, and also KateElizabethBlack. In fact, there was almost another whole chapter between this one, but her review prompted me to cut some boring stuff and skip to this chapter;) Which goes to show reviews are very helpful! I really appreciate them!:) Anyways, there's only a few chapters left to go! I hope you all enjoy this one!**

**Chapter 29: Confrontations**

He was waiting for her outside of the University.

Only it wasn't the man she had expected, her boyfriend of three weeks, Aric.

"Hello." Loki said to Lora, while she gaped openmouthed at him. Under her arm she held a stack of books and with the other hand she held a shawl over her head and under her chin to ward off the rain that was coming down hard. She looked around, wondering if anyone else noticed that the King of Asgard was sitting on the steps outside of school, waiting for her. As hard as the rain was falling, no one spared either of them a glance; they were all focused on getting somewhere dry as soon as possible.

Slowly, Lora descended the steps, while, at the same time, Loki just as slowly stood up and came toward her.

"Let me take those." He said quietly, reaching for her books.

She jerked them out of his reach, too quickly, she realized, for someone who was attempting to play cool like she had intended to do.

He frowned, and (typically) reached for them again. This time she was slower about pulling away, and he pried them out of her arm and into his own hands.

Pulling her shawl tighter around her head, she turned and walked on. She knew he was walking beside her, and after a moment he asked, "How are you?"

"I'm fine." The first time she said that, she wondered if he even understood her. The words came out all wrong-husky and a little stuttered. She cleared her throat and then, a little louder, whispered, "I'm well."

"You look well. Beautiful." She heard him say. She still wasn't looking at him. Pausing at a street, she took a moment to wipe some water off her face.

"Lora, I need to speak with you."

"Please, please, let's not. Let's not speak." Chancing a glance up, his brow was furrowed in confusion.

"Why ever not?"

This whole encounter had so far been very dreamlike for Lora-almost unreal. She was dizzy from the rain, and it was so strange to see him here, walking with her, carrying her books, after all of this time. And then, there was the strange way that he was acting. Polite, as he always was, but without the underlying threat of anger or malice that had always been there. Kind, almost. She wondered if she would wake up later and realize that she had dreamed this whole encounter.

"Because," she crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, "it's not necessary. There's nothing now that we need to say to each other."

"Of course there is." Was he speaking through gritted teeth? "I have much that I need to say to you."

"Please Loki, we don't have to do this. Why do people always do this? Talk and make it worse? Please," her voice cracked a little here-she hoped he wouldn't notice, "don't do this to me Loki. Don't open up old hurts and wounds. Like I said, it isn't necessary."

"Not necessary? Of course it's necessary! I-" He looked around for a moment, people were looking now at the man and women who were having an argument in the middle of a rainy street. "Come with me." He grabbed her arm, not giving her a choice, and hauled her away and underneath an awning in a nearby park. No one else was around, they were the only two people, and now that they were underneath some shelter she got a closer look at his face.

He looked magnificent, as always. Even the rain that had soaked both of their dark hair seemed to make him look even more beautiful. But there was something else about his face that didn't look right, and she couldn't decide what it was. Maybe it was power, or freedom, that was causing him to give off this unfamiliar aura. Maybe it was both. Whatever it was, it didn't suit him.

"They are not 'old wounds' and 'old hurts'. They are fresh wounds! Do you know what I am speaking of?"

"Of course I don't! Loki, I haven't seen you in months. I have no idea what you are talking about."

His face twisted cruelly. "Don't you? You mean you aren't seeing someone? A curator named Aric?"

For a moment, she was speechless. How would he know that? Was he spying on her? And why would he even care?"

"I don't see why that's a concern of yours."

"You don't see? Auhh-" Loki paused for a moment. This was not going the way he had intended for this to go at all. He had come to apologize, and tell her how he felt. Why was that so hard? He hadn't meant to get angry at all, and he especially hadn't meant to bring up Aric. Jealousy was off-putting, he knew. He was here to win her back, not push her farther away.

He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them and took a step towards her.

"Lora…" He reached for her hands, but he was surprised when she cringed when he did so.

Lora was surprised at the look of hurt that flashed across his face. Then Lora realized what was so different about him today. He looked sad. His face, his body language, it all was thinly hiding grief. It shocked her. Even when his mother had died, he hadn't seemed so supremely miserable as this.

"Please don't do that." He whispered when she tried to pull her hands away.

"Why not?" She faltered, her eyes tearing up. All those feelings came back to her for a moment, the deep heartfelt and completely irrational love she had felt for this troubled prince. The love that, deep within her, she still felt. Would probably always feel. Even she lied to herself and tried to ignore it.

"Because I want to hold your hands. Please let me." She didn't say anything, and for a moment the only sound was the rain coming down outside the awning.

As they stared into each other's eyes, Lora knew this was getting dangerous. Without thinking, she blurted out,

"Loki, I love Aric."

There was a painful pause as he dropped her hands.

"What?"

"I love him. Aric. I love him." It was true, after all. Of course, the love she felt for him was not the same as what she felt for Loki. But it was better that he didn't know that.

Loki smirked. Lora could see in his eyes some of his old cruelty coming back. "Then I guess I should tell you that this Aric has a gambling problem."

"What?" She asked, confused.

"He has a terrible gambling problem. I know. He used to go out with us sometimes, me and Thor, and he always played and lost tons of money. In fact, I think he still owes me some money."

"You do realize the absurdity of what you just said? And knowing you, you probably cheated."

"He's a simpleton, Lora."

"He's a good man. He's not a simpleton. He is also kind and honest."

Stepping away, Loki kicked up a puddle of water and nearly screeched. Then he reeled on her.

"Is that what you want?! Someone who's nice? And honest? Someone who's too stupid for you? Someone who hardly knows you? If you wanted all those things, then why did you ever pretend to love me in the first place? Is it just that you're a liar too?"

"I wasn't pretending Loki!" She pleaded, taking a dangerous step closer to the screaming king in front of her. "But at least my being a human isn't a problem for him! He doesn't hate what I am!"

"What do you mean?" He hissed.

"I told him, last week. I wanted him to know before things went further that I was a human. And he laughed! He smiled! He didn't even care! He said it hardly mattered what I was so long as I was me!"

"Oh, he's quite the benevolent lover isn't he? Claims he doesn't care that you're a mortal, does he?"

Lora realized at that moment that Loki was slowly coming closer to her, and at the very same time she was slowly retreating.

"Have you ever even wondered why I care so much? Why I was so upset?"

Closer, he came, until they were making circles under the awning.

"What kind of immortal wouldn't care that you were mortal? What person who claims to love you wouldn't care that you only had, at best, around eighty years more to live?"

Seeing her shocked, pained expression, his twisted smile grew larger.

"That's right. How much can he really care about you, not caring about that?"

"He said he loves me." She spat back at him.

He froze.

"Did he?"

"He did."

"Well, so what? It doesn't mean anything."

"It does to me."

Loki groaned. "Why, Lora? Why are you doing this to me? Why are you trying to make it so hard for me?"

"Nothing's ever been hard for you. You just think it is."

Loki appeared to have not heard her; he smiled, and took another step forward. Catching the look in his eye, Lora took another step back.

"It doesn't matter. He can tell you he loves you a thousand times and it wouldn't make a difference. It doesn't matter what he says, or what he does. Only this matters. Only this. Only this."

Lora tried to run but in one long stride Loki had caught her.

The Kiss was, in essence, Loki. All of his passion, all of his anger, all of his emotions, she could sense them all in the way he crushed his lips against hers. It felt like she was pushed up against a wall; it was that sort of a kiss. But with a shock she realized she wasn't. He was holding her up in his arms, far off the ground, and assaulting her face with his own. The two of them. It was just the two of them standing under a pavilion, out of the rain. Just the two of them, maybe in the whole world.

When she whimpered from the pain and from the lack of air, he slowly set her back on her feet. Now, instead, he kissed her eyes, and her nose. He kissed her right underneath her chin, behind her ear, and all over her warm, flushed neck. He bit her there, without meaning to. It just happened. And for the first time he let his hands wander over her body in places he had never dared touch before but had always dreamed of. He ran his hands over her breasts, which were painfully exposed through her wet dress. She gasped but didn't complain when he touched her there, and then all over. He clutched her around the waist so tight she thought she might burst, and moaned when he buried his face into her neck.

He pulled away, after a moment, and looked down at her once again. They were both panting. And he noticed that her face was still wet from the rain. Maybe his was too. He closed his eyes, and then, once again, pulled her closer for another kiss.

He crushed her to him, body and lips, but with even more passion than before. Lora cried out. This kiss was different. She could sense more than just his emotions now. He was baring his soul to her. He had transcribed the words of his heart and was translating them to her with his lips. And it frightened her. He was a frightening man.

"Stop." She gasped. "Stop." She tried to push away from him, but that just made him hold her closer. "Loki, stop!" She cried.

Closing her eyes, she ripped her wrist out of his grasp and clawed him across the face.

He hissed and stepped away, freeing her. He put his hand to his face absentmindedly, where scratch marks that she had made shown red and bleeding across his face.

He looked angry, but not at what she had done, but that she had ended the kiss.

Still trembling, Lora met his cold gaze with her own. "You liar." She hissed. "You sick, evil, _liar_."

He didn't say anything but continued to glare back at her until a friendly voice pulled both their gazes away.

"Lora!" Aric stumbled up jauntily underneath the awning, and laughed, throwing he arms around her. He gave her a peck on the cheek and then said, "Where were you little girl? I've been looking all over for you."

Lora couldn't say anything yet. It wasn't possible. She looked down, unable to look at either of them.

Noticing they weren't alone, Aric glanced over at the tall figure in green.

"Why, if it isn't Loki!" Aric cried. "After all this time I never thought I would see you again, and now I have, and now you're a king, and oh how marvelous this is!"

Loki didn't say anything either. He looked at Lora, but she was still turned away.

Still smiling, Aric continued, "Do you two know each other?"

Loki, still panting from earlier, turned to walk away, and then at the last minute, turned back to Aric.

"You owe me money!" He growled, and then left.


	31. Chapter 30: Propositions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit.**

**Author's Note: So sorry for the delay! Thank you everybody who followed and favorited the last chapter, and especially thank you all who reviewed! I love your reviews, and without your support I'm not sure I could have made it this far! Thank you all!:)**

**Chapter 30: Propositions**

Time passed, and Lora thought that it probably passed different for her than it did for other people. For all of these Aesir, it was just another month, another week, another day. Another day in the millions of days that they would have. But Lora couldn't help but think at the end of each day what had just passed, and what was now gone forever. She would never get back this day, she would never have another summer at the age she was now. It was all going as soon as it had come, and nothing could make a difference.

She had told herself it didn't matter, that she didn't care. But as usual, Loki's words had the power to twist and turn and destroy. He had planted a seed once again in her mind, and it was growing and twisting its thorny roots into her heart and soul.

She sometimes felt so low that not even her boyfriend's smiling face could cheer her up.

"Lora?" Helga asked tentatively. "Do you want to go out and get dinner tonight?"

"I'm not feeling so great, mother." Lora called to her mother, who was waiting outside her door.

"But is everything alright?"

"Yes mother." She called back.

"Are you sure?" Her mother said, so quietly this time Lora almost couldn't hear her.

"Yes. Mom. Sheesh." Lora cringed when she realized how harsh she had sounded, but her anger dissipated when she realized she had not heard her mother's footsteps leave.

Lora jumped off of her bed and swung her door open to see Helga's guilty face.

"I'm sorry I'm leaving!" Helga said, but she made no move to leave.

"No , it's fine, mother, just come on in if you want to." Lora propelled her mother into the room and they both sat on Lora's bed. "What is it?"

For a moment her mother just sat and looked around. She gazed at the four walls that Lora had spent most of her childhood in. Spots of paint and measurements in charcoal were remnants of the many happy times they had spent together, just the two of them.

Finally, after a sigh, her mother spoke.

"I was just wanting to know if everything was alright with you."

"Of course everything's all right with me. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I heard you crying the other night. Well… the last few nights actually."

Lora couldn't help but cringe. She hadn't realized that her mother had been awake.

Her mother was about to go on, but Lora saw her stop and hesitate. Lora shook her head. She knew her mother had been about to mention that the only other time Lora had been so mean to her mother, like she had been a moment ago, had been the night she told her that she was going to live on Midgard.

"Is this about your humanity, Lora?"

Lora paused. "Yes. And…no."

Helga waited patiently for her daughter to go on. Looking into her mother's wise and loving face, Lora couldn't help but think that if she had simply talked to her mother about all of her problems and her feelings instead of keeping them bottled up inside she could have saved herself a lot of trouble and pain.

"Have you ever wanted something that you knew was bad? That wasn't right for you?"

She was surprised to hear her mother laugh a little. "Of course I have, sweet. How could you even ask that?"

"Well it's just hard for me to believe. You're so …pulled together. And self-assured. You always seem to make the right choices."

"Not always honey. In fact, once when I was just a teenager, someone handed me a baby, and a lot of people told me that I was too young, that raising a child when I was practically one myself wouldn't be good for me, but I didn't care. I loved you."

"Ah."

"And then there was your father…"

Lora's ears perked up. "What about him?" She asked, a little too eagerly.

Helga raised her eyebrows a little. "As much as I loved him, he really wasn't good for me. I really struggled with it."

"You're kidding."

"Not even a little. The truth is Lora... your father didn't leave because of you. I know you've always thought he did, but that isn't the truth. The truth is that I told him to leave. I never told you because I didn't want you to hate me for being the person that made your father leave."

"So… it wasn't because of my being a mortal?"

Helga's face betrayed all of the guilt and anguish she was feeling. "Not even a little." She gawked when her daughter began laughing. "What's so funny?"

Lora wiped a tear away from her eye. "It's just so hilarious, mother. You seem so guilty and afraid that I'll be mad, but I'm not. Not even a little bit. I'm relieved. I'm just happy that it wasn't because of me that he left you. " They smiled at each other for a moment before Lora fidgeted with the hands in her lap. "If you don't mind my asking mother, why did you send him away, if you loved him so much? Because he wasn't good for you?"

"Yes. As much as he adored you, he wasn't ready to be a father. He couldn't hold a job for very long, drinking and gambling were among the smallest of his vices, not to mention the nights he used to spend in the company of other women, although he seems to have come a long way since then. He's doing quite well now."

"I see."

"But you know something, Lora? The truth is, none of that mattered. Even after all of the bad things that he did, that he was, none of it would have mattered. I would have kept him, but for one small thing."

"And what was that?"

"He didn't love me back."

"He didn't?"

"No. Not really. He adored you, but the most he ever felt for me was youthful lust and infatuation. If he had loved me back, I would never have let him go. Never. All of the bad he did wouldn't have mattered to me. I would have kept him and we would have just been bad together. And as it turns out, it seemed like he did do better now that he is with the woman that he really loves."

Lora let all of that sink in. Another time she might have noticed how sad it was that her mother still loved Harald after all of this time, but all she could really think about was what her mother had said. That if her father had loved her back, she would have still been with him, even if he had been bad for her.

"Lora, is this about a boy?"

Lora pretended to be confused. "What? Of course not!"

Helga smiled at her daughter's unconvincing tone. "Is it Aric? You all seem to be getting along very well. He is a very nice boy. Handsome, sweet. Perfect. Almost too perfect."

"No, it's not Aric."

Her mother stood up straight at that. "Not Aric? You mean there's been someone else? Someone that you never mentioned?"

Lora nodded.

"Is he the reason why you were so upset all those months ago? Did he do something to you?" Helga demanded.

"No, I mean, maybe. Sort of. I think he might be my Harald, you know. He's not good for me, but I think I love him, mother. I really do."

Helga sighed. "Well, Aric is a good man too. If this man really isn't good for you, you've got a fine one in your hands now."

"I know."

"And honey, remember, you can always tell me anything that's wrong with you. I'll try to understand. Please don't leave me again."

Lora and her mother hugged. "I won't, mother. I love you. " She whispered into her mother's ear, and also to someone else, who wasn't there.

….

Lora couldn't deny that things were a little awkward at the lab for a while. Ragna, who was usually so talkative and teasing, was clearly uncomfortable at the new arrangement wherein their places were switched. What used to be one of the most easy going relationships of both their lives was now simply a colleagueship that was riddled with awkward pauses and jerky movements as they stepped around and over one another in the lab.

One night before the weekend Lora decided she had had enough of it.

As everyone was packing up to leave, she marched straight up to Ragna and pulled her hair out of her bun.

As her fluffy hair fell down and framed her face, Ragna opened her mouth to ask a question, but Lora put a gloved finger over her mouth and silenced her. "We're going someone right now, and it isn't the kind of place for tidy hair."

Without saying anything, Ragna nodded. Alarmed, but actually a little excited, she followed Lora out of the lab.

Forty minutes later they were in one of the rowdiest taverns in Asgard, and had downed five glasses of ale each.

"See anything ya like?" Lora slurred, sloshing her drink in the direction of all of the men drinking and laughing and playing darts.

"Are you kidding? There's only one man in here for me, and I've had my eye on him all night." Laughing, Ragna winked in the direction of the bartender, who surprisingly blushed and hurried away to refill someone else's drink.

Lora chuckled as she watched the flustered barkeep retreat. "Well, it seems like he's noticed you as well. Although a friendly word of advice, I might wait to consider if you actually like him, or if it's the allure that he is the one who has been providing you with beer tonight before you take him home."

"Will do!" Ragna said a little too loudly. "I'll think about that over my next few drinks.

They both paused to take another sip, before Lora set hers down and looked over at Ragna.

"Ragna, I have something to say to you."

Ragna, who had found a straw and was now concentrating hard on sipping and staring at Lora without passing out, nodded.

"I hate how things are between us. We used to be such good friends, and now things are awkward. I hate that. I know why things are awkward, but as of this moment I declare they aren't anymore. Got that? I don't care that I'm your assistant, it doesn't bother me, and it shouldn't bother you that you are in charge of me now. I left, and you took my job. You did the right thing. But things aren't going to be awkward between us anymore. Understand? Good, now to say you understand and don't slur this time. I want to be sure you really do mean it."

To prove it further, Ragna jumped over to Lora's seat and gave her a big hug, and declared that she was so glad that they had met like this, that she was so glad she was back, that the only reason she had even done so well was because of Lora's excellent training.

"Now, now. That's enough." Lora said, pushing her friend away and feeling a little embarrassed.

Going back to slurping her alcohol through a straw, Ragna smiled. "You're much more assertive now."

"I know. It might have something to do with the fact that I went to Midgard, broke the law, and also lost my virginity."

At this point Lora was so drunk that she didn't even consider the fact that she was telling all of this to Ragna, who maybe shouldn't know about it. If she had been a little more sober, she might have been surprised at how calmly Ragna was taking it. But Ragna was even drunker than she. As it was, they were discussing this business like it were any old thing.

"I always wondered where you were. Haha!" Ragna laughed, her eyes completely glazed.

"Yep. I was on Midgard, I was."

"Why were you there? Awful place."

Lora shrugged. "It's not so bad. But I went there because of Prince Loki." She threw up her hands. "Oh, wait, I'm sorry, King Loki now. But he was only a prince then."

"Oh my goodness! Did he banish you?" Ragna said, as if she were asking Lora what shoes she had worn yesterday.

"No, oh no. He might have thought about it, but the truth is I went there on my own. Because of him. Because he broke my heart and made me doubt my entire existence and also all of my life choices. That tall, dark handsome man ate his way into my soul pretty ferociously."

"Well that's a damn shame. I heard he was pretty tricky though."

"Mmmhhhmmm. He definitely is." Lora agreed.

"So are you going to see him again?"

"I saw him just a little while ago. But I don't know if I will again, though."

"Why not?"

"Well I'm in love with him. Yes, I'm still quite madly in love with him. And it's very dangerous for me to see him, because not only is he very dangerous, but whenever I see him, and he speaks to me, and looks down at me with those soulful green eyes that look like a serpents, or heaven forbid he touches me, it takes all of my strength, and everything I've got, to say no and get away."

Ragna laughed somewhat brashly. " Mmmm he sounds luscious. Why would you want to get away from that?"

"Because I'm with Aric. Aric is good. Aric is the one who really loves me. Damn Loki for planting the seed of doubt in my head. Aric does love me. He does."

"Well, you know Lor, (can I call you Lor?), it's also important who you love. Which one you want. That's important too."

Lora thought about that for a moment as best she could, considering how intoxicated she was. "Hmmm. You're right. It's also important who I want. That's good. I'm going to try and remember that in the morning." She closed her eyes tight and tried hard to memorize that. "It's also important who I love. Got to remember that. Both are important I guess. He has to love me, and I have to love him. Thank you, Ragna."

Ragna, who was practically unable to speak at this point, raised her glass in acknowledgement.

…..

As per usual when he was walking the streets of Asgard, Loki used a disguise so that he wouldn't get recognized.

All week he had been deliberating the best way to approach Lora again. Their last meeting had not gone as well as he had hoped. Although their kiss had been exceptional, he had found the ending to their meeting somewhat lacking. Well, that was putting it mildly. Watching his soul mate be walked away from him by a man he absolutely loathed was about as bad as it could get. Loki didn't want to be begging her his whole life. He didn't want to settle for stolen embraces and kisses that he practically had to force out of her. He had his eyes on the prize. As always, he had a goal. He wanted Lora, and he didn't want to share her with anyone else. He wanted her to belong to him and him alone, and more than that, he wanted her to want to be with him. He wanted her to choose him. He wanted them to be together for the rest of their lives.

The problem was going about it. He had thought long and hard, and as a result his normal kingly duties had taken a harder toll than usual.

He needed a drink. He needed a few drinks, actually.

And he could have been knocked over with a feather when he saw Lora and another woman stumbling out of the bar he had been about to enter in the middle of the night.

Lora had her arm around the shorter girl, and was supporting her, but it was obvious that Lora was quite drunk herself.

He was so shocked, he dropped his disguise.

It took a few moments for Lora to notice him, and when she did, she and her friend stopped as well.

"Loki! Ragna wake up, it's Loki."

The woman under her arm, supposedly Ragna, grunted or mumbled something that Loki couldn't understand.

"Loki!" Lora mumbled. She let go of her friend, who then fell to her knees and started to crawl away. Herself, Lora made her way over to Loki slowly but surely, half shuffling and falling as she did so.

Finally, she launched herself into his arms, grasping his sleeves for balance and leaning against him with her head in his chest.

Loki still wasn't sure what to say. When she looked up at him, he saw that her eyes were blood red and her breath almost knocked him over with the strong smell of alcohol.

"Oh, Loki. I'm so glad you're here." She slurred. "I have something to tell you, something important. You see, it's important for you love me and for him to love me. That is all good. It's quite good, if it's true or not. Who knows? But you see it's also important what I want, and who I love. That's very important and I'm going to remember that too. Do you understand?"

"No." He had absolutely no clue what she was talking about.

Huffing, she sighed with impatience and buried her head into his chest. That made his heart flutter, and he watched in amazement as her breath warmed his neck and she smiled drunkenly back up at him.

"That's alright. It's okay." She leaned in close to his ear, whispering now. "You don't have to understand."

Aroused, but still confused, all he could do was nod like an idiot. Even though he still had no idea what she was talking about, he was afraid if he spoke and asked her to explain he might spook her. He nodded again, not sure if she saw the first time.

"Loki." She whispered. "Dear, sweet, twisted Loki. I love you so much. I love you so much, but it's not me, its you. You aren't ready, and you'll never be. Never. Never. Never. Never." That he understood. She was crying now, and alternating between sobbing into his neck and licking his ear. He wanted to explain to her that he was ready, that he did love her. He wanted to wipe her tears away, and he also wanted to return the licks she was giving his neck. Instead, he sighed. Now was clearly not the time for any of those things. Finally, he spoke. "Love, you're drunk. It's time for you to go to bed and get some rest."

She pushed away from him angrily. "I don't want to rest. I've never been so awake." She then proceeded to throw up on the ground between them.

Leaving her there for the moment, Loki went over to a garden outside the tavern where Ragna was kneeled over and throwing up herself. Well, just coughing now. It looked like the girl had thrown up everything she had ever eaten in her life and now she was just trying not to pass out.

Lifting the smaller girl up, he grabbed a horseman riding through the street.

The man, who immediately recognized the King, hurried to dismount and bow to the King, but Loki stopped him. Instead, he lifted the girl up and put her drooping body in front of him.

"I want you to take this girl to her house. In a few moments she should be awake enough to tell you where that is. If she isn't, take her to a hotel, or wherever, but see that she's safe."

"Of course, my King."

"Come by the palace tomorrow morning. You will be compensated for this."

"Oh no, King Loki. It would be my honor to do this really."

"Come by anyway. You deserve to be repaid."

"Yes my Lord." Cradling the drunken girl in front of him, the young horseman kicked his horse and started away.

Loki watched him leave and then turned back to the other girl.

Lora was lying on the ground now, staring up at the stars. Loki bent down and gathered her back up in his arms and took her away from the tavern and down the street. There were so many things that he wanted to ask her, and tell her, but he knew that would all have to wait.

When he got to her house he wondered for a moment if he should go in the front door. All the lights were off, but he certainly didn't want to run into her mother or anyone else who might be there. Instead, he walked around the house for a few moments.

On one window seal there were jars that were labeled and had some strange substances growing in them. The whole set up looked like some sort of experiment, so Loki knew that this must be Lora's window. He undid the latch, which was locked, and gently stepped into the room.

The bed was the largest piece of furniture in the tiny room, so he set straightaway for it and laid her gently on her side on the tiny pink bed.

Grabbing a blanket, he pulled it over her when a mumbling disturbed him.

"Loki?" Lora's eyes were half open as she spoke, giving her an uncanny resemblance to a cat.

"What is it, love?" He said bending on his knee next to her.

"Do you love me?" She said, and then giggled, thinking to herself how stupid and cliché that sounded.

He took her hand, even though her eyes were closing now, and she certainly was not going to remember anything about any of this in the morning.

"What I feel for you is much deeper than that. It's love, but it's so strong that it goes without saying. Like the love one has for one's self. It just goes without saying; you don't even have to think about it. It's as natural as breathing, or sleeping."

He reached over now, and pushed the hair back from Lora's sleeping forehead. Her face was hot and red, probably from all of the liquor.

"Goodnight love."

As he left out the window he came from, he thought to himself, If only I could say that to her face, when she is awake. Then there would be no problems between us. But then, remembering what she had said earlier, he realized that wasn't quite true.

…..

The next day was hell for Lora. She woke up in the afternoon with the worst headache of her life, and she couldn't even answer any of her mother's teasing questions about where she had went last night, because she had no idea herself.

She remembered going for drinks with Lora, and the rest of the night was complete blur.

And to make matters worse, she had to go to dinner that evening at her Grandfather's house, so she only had a little time to wash and get dressed before she and her mother went out.

Aric had joined them all that evening, as he usually did nowadays.

The four of them ate together quite regularly now, and today was another special day, because Lora had graduated last week.

Her Grandfather had had a special dinner fixed for her and then caramel cake and strawberries for dessert. Now all four of them were in the living room sharing frosted champagne floats.

Lora blushed as her mother went on and on about how proud she was of her daughter, and she cried a little when her grandfather had Aric cover her eyes and her grandfather slipped a necklace around neck.

"It was your grandmother's. I've been saving it for a special occasion to give it to you. I would have given it to you years ago, except you were such a scientist you probably would have taken it apart and melted down the metal and studied it like you did with all of our silverware."

They all laughed expect Lora, who frowned and protested that she would have known better.

"It's beautiful, Grandfather, really I don't deserve it. She threw her arms around his own neck and kissed his weathered cheek.

Only Aric's awkward cough interrupted their embrace.

"I have something for you too, Lora."

Stomping her foot and putting her hands on her hips, Lora turned to growl at her boyfriend. "No. Absolutely not. It's just graduation you all, it's no need to spoil me so. I'm not accepting any more presents."

With a strange twinkle in his eye, her Grandfather held up his hands for her to be silent. "Why don't you hear the young man out, Lora?"

With a strange lump in her throat, Lora turned silently to Aric. She looked briefly at her mother, but Helga seemed as confused as she did.

"What is it, Aric?" She said rather squeakily.

"Well, Lora, I know you'll be looking for a job now. Possibly one that's a ways away. I know it's a little soon for this kind of thing, but I wanted to do this now so that it wouldn't seem like I was just trying to keep you here when the time comes."

Aric got down on one knee.

Lora gulped.

He pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Lorelai Haraldsdotter, I love you more than I can even say. In the relatively short time I've known you you've changed my life for the better. Will you marry me?"

Opening the box, all the stunned Lora could see for several moments was a bright spot where the light from the fire was glaring off the shiny item in the box.

In a daze she nodded her head.

There was kissing and celebration all around.


	32. Chapter 31: Conversations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for proftit.**

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed, especially Angelbaby1231,jayjay0815, and Kristina44, who has been very patient with me and given a lot of support. I'm sorry about the length between updates, I let school get the better of me. Only a few more chapters now, folks!**

**Chapter 31: Conversations**

Sif always knew when something was wrong; she thought of this skill as just a penchant for danger. Thor used to say it was some extra ability, a useful, albeit unnatural, power. Now Sif was starting to believe him. What else could explain her unease, the restless nights she had been having lately?

Sif knew had Thor been here, he would have questioned her intently. He would have listened and taken note of her premonitions and thoughts and then, likely as not, acted upon them. He had always had much respect for her, on the battlefield and off of it. It was one of the many things she missed about him. Sif at least hoped that _Jane _appreciated more than just Thor's beauty. Probably not.

Of course there was one other person who always believed Sif when she thought something was wrong, but she could scarcely tell King Loki that he was the reason for her suspicions.

Something just didn't make sense to Sif. How could Odin die so suddenly after Thor left? Granted the loss of his son had been hard on the All-father, but Thor was alive and well. The nine realms were at peace. How was this enough to bring down the mighty All-Father, when the death of his own wife had not?

But that wasn't what bothered Sif the most. The real question was: why had Odin chosen Loki to be his successor? Even if Loki had helped defeat the dark elves, (which Thor had assured her he had), how could Odin leave Asgard to Loki? Loki the trickster, the loose cannon. He was unstable, a criminal, a liar, and Odin had never trusted him. How could that all have gone away so suddenly?

Fandral and Volstagg refused to comment when she said as much to them. They even had the gall to look appalled.

"Whatever he may have done in the past, he is our King now, chosen by the All-Father himself. We have sworn to obey him." Fandral had said.

Sif had expected as much, but she couldn't help but say, "But don't you see? That's just it! How do we know Odin really wanted Loki to be King?"

"Oh, Sif…" Volstagg said, shaking his head.

"Don't you 'Oh, Sif' me!" She yelled.

It was useless talking to the two of them.

That conversation had been the last straw.

After that, almost as if in a dream, she had found herself back on the rainbow bridge, standing before Heimdall himself.

"I need to leave," Sif said, "I need to…I seek the truth."

Heimdall, unsure of what she meant but trusting her judgment, beckoned her forward. "Where to?"

She thought for a moment.

"Jotunheim." She finally said.

He nodded, and she stepped up for the journey.

_Jotenheim? What's on Jotenheim? _She found herself thinking right before the Bifrost blasted her through time and space.

But she couldn't explain her own decisions even to herself. And after all, it was just a premonition.

….

News of Lora's engagement spread around the lab like wildfire. She was bombarded by the constant well-wishings, questions of dates, times and invitations. For some reason, Lora wasn't quite as excited about the actual wedding part as the rest of the building seemed to be. All she wanted was to have a quiet wedding, marry Aric, and have her honeymoon in the quietest way possible.

"That simply isn't realistic, dear." Her boss Eydis said when Lora admitted such to her over lunch. "Everyone you know is going to expect a lavish wedding and an invitation to boot. Myself included!" She winked at Lora.

Lora groaned. "Not you too, Eydis!"

Her boss laughed. "Of course! Weddings are important occasions, my dear. You only get married once in five thousand years, after all."

""Right." Lora murmured.

In the meantime, Lora had experienced the bliss of being engaged. She and Aric went out together every night, to the opera, to dinner, to her grandfather's house. They shopped for flowers and put their arms around each other when they walked down the street.

Lora knew that perhaps that the place in her heart that Loki had scorched might never fully heel, but every time she kissed Aric it was like cool water was being poured over the burn, and Lora knew that maybe they would never have the passion she and Loki could have had, but his sweetness and stability would pave her way to happiness.

For some reason, things seemed to be going easier for her, everywhere she went. There was always a horse and carriage around when she needed one, and they always seemed to charge less than she remembered the price being. When she and Eric went out to dinner, her food would always come quickly and it would be some sort of special thing. Or, they would be siting in the theatre, listening to a singer, and a man in fancy dress would come to their seat and say that if Lora wished, she could choose the next song she wished to hear the Prima Donna sing. Her, out of hundreds of people.

And if the purple rose she still kept on her nightstand hadn't wilted, surely that was just a coincidence.

…

Every year the King's birthday was celebrated with celebrations and parties. It had been this way for thousands and thousands of years. Loki guessed that today, the day they were celebrating his, might not actually be the anniversary of his birth. After all, Odin had found him at least a few days old. Odin and Frigga must have just guessed a day. But regardless, it gave him great pleasure to see children in the streets wearing golden horns and wishing "Long life to King Loki." He glanced with satisfaction now at the grand ballroom, which was decorated with green and gold curtains, green and gold table clothes, and thousands of candles.

Loki was dancing at this moment with a young girl, the daughter of one of his officers. She was a pretty young thing, with strawberry blond hair and green eyes, and Loki expected that the girl's father was hoping Loki would notice this when the man asked the King if he would honor his daughter with a dance.

Loki knew the girl's father would be disappointed; this girl would not be his queen. How could she, when every time he looked down at her, he wished that instead of green eyes they were purple, that her bright hair was dark, that it was a different face altogether across from him? A different person dancing in his arms.

The girl's voice pulled him back to reality.

"What was that you said, dear?" He said, glancing down at her.

The girl blushed. "I was remarking that I had not expected the King to be such a good dancer."

It was true; Loki was talented at dance. One of the best dancers at court, in fact. Loki had never cared much for it, but it was true that like most things he tried he excelled at it.

Round and round he and the young girl danced, waltzing in and out of other couples around the dance floor.

"Had you thought I had no other talents besides trickery?" He asked.

"I have heard it once said that Kings have no other talents than managing to be born in a royal cradle." She turned an even deeper shade of red as she said this, but to her surprise Loki laughed.

"I appreciate your honesty, lady. And I must say that for the most part I would have to agree with you. But as you can see, I am one of a kind." His smile, which no matter what could never be seen as anything other than wicked, made the girls eyes go wide. She almost tripped over her own feet. "Excuse me, my King."

"No fear. Everyone stumbles from time to time."

They finished out the dance and Loki escorted her back to her father.

When the musicians started a new song, Loki refused to pick a dance partner, preferring to watch the next one. The grand ballroom was truly stunning. Made entirely of glass, it was regarded as the most beautiful part of the entire palace. Even the ceiling was glass, and thousands of stars twinkled above the hundreds and hundreds of Asgardians who were lucky enough to receive an invitation.

Just as Loki was wondering if a certain invitation had found it's way to a certain someone's house, his question was answered.

Far across the enormous room, towards the end, Lora was dancing with Aric.

The young man was in a red suit, red cape and red feathers in his golden hair to match. Lora was gliding with him, decked out in all purple. Her large dress sparkled like the stars above, and her elbow length gloves sparkled as well. Her dark hair was piled up on her head, so there was nothing to hide her white shoulders that her dress left bare.

They were a beautiful couple, Loki couldn't help but notice.

As if in a dream, he found himself making his way through the crowd, weaving his way through to where Lora and Aric were laughing about something.

"May I be so bold as to cut in?" He interrupted, placing a hand around Lora's elbow and stilling their dance.

Aric beamed as red as his outfit. "My King! How kind of you to notice us out of all the people here to celebrate this glorious day!"

"Not exactly." Loki said, gritting his teeth at the other man's kind naivety.

Aric just laughed as if Loki had told a fabulous joke. "How are you enjoying your birthday, your majesty?"

Loki ignored his question. "I was wondering if I might dance with your lovely young lady?" He smiled at Lora, who turned pale and turned and looked at Aric with wide eyes. It was clear even to Loki that she was trying to communicate with the young man, trying to tell him with her eyes that she didn't want to, but the young art curator was completely oblivious.

"You would do me a great honor by doing so, my King." Aric said, obviously proud that his lady had been selected by the King for a dance. Aric took Lora's hand and placed it in Loki's. Loki gave it a squeeze that Aric missed. The boy went on, "And she is my fiancé now." He beamed even harder at this.

Loki turned to look at Lora. "Is she now?" Unable to suppress the malice that came through. "You are a lucky man indeed, sir. I am sure there are many men who would hate you for it."

Aric nodded, about to say something else, but Loki quickly wrapped his other arm tightly around Lora's waist, pulling her close to him, and he led her away and into the middle of the dance.

Loki's hand was tight on hers, and his eyes held her prisoner. He knew that she was ill at ease, and he cruelly pulled her even closer to him, so that their bodies were pressed against one another's in dance. He cringed when he looked down and saw her face, for once feeling awful about his actions, but he couldn't help it.

He was leading them in a very fast dance as they twirled round and round, but Lora surprised him by keeping up very well. He recalled that she had once told him that she ice-skated in her spare time. He imagined that to the other dancers they must look like a blur of green and purple, his long cape and her dress swishing around each other, and their dark heads bent close together.

When the song ended, Lora tried to loosen her hands a little, but he pulled her to him as close as their bodies could be. A new, slower song started.

"Join me for one more dance, my lady."

"I could not refuse my King." She said rather harshly.

"Well," he said after a moment. "We both know that that is a lie."

"I thought lies were your favorite things."

"Sometimes. Sometimes not."

His voice was sounded so sad, so uncharacteristically weary-even to him-that Lora looked flustered for a moment.

"So am I invited to the wedding?"

Her voice trembled when she answered, as if she choking back a sob. "If you wish, your highness."

"I do."

"Then…then I shall see what I can do."

"Thank you." He whispered, leaning down so that his cheek was against hers, both of their eyes looking past the other.

"Will you…behave yourself? At the wedding, I mean?" He heard her say with what he was sure was at least the ghost of a smile.

"No. I intend to destroy the groom and steal the bride."

He shook with quiet laughter when she huffed and started to pull away. "There, there, I'm only joking. Any fighting I do is always sneaky, you know."

"So poison in the punch bowl?"

"Precisely."

She laughed for real this time, albeit quietly.

"You're in a surprisingly good mood…"

He turned to look at her now. "It's hard to be angry after seeing you again after so long."

"Don't say things like that."

"Why ever not?"

"Because I know you and you will regret it later, my King."

"May I tell you something? All my life I used to imagine-no, dream-about the day when everyone that I knew would call me "my King," and now they do and it's even more satisfying than I imagined it would be. But if I'm being honest with myself, I hate it when you say it to me. And it's not just the way you spit the words out at me like something sour that you swallowed. I simply don't like to hear you call me that."

"And why ever not?" She said, using his own words, and smiling through the wall of tears that looked as though they might at any moment break through.

On they twirled and danced, but Loki paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out the answer for himself.

"I don't want to be 'your King", to you, I only ever want to be Loki."

"You understand though, that it can't be so. You were my prince, and now you are my king. We're as different as two souls can be and still inhabit the same universe. "

"But yours is the only soul that mine wants."

As soon as he spoke the words he knew his mistake; the song was ending now but when she stiffened and pulled away he didn't reach after her.

"I want your soul too, but you won't give it to me. And besides, you can't always have everything you want." She said quietly.

Around Loki a new song had started and new partners were rounding up one another and getting into place, but he just stood there, dumbstruck, and stared after her. His arms were unconsciously pushed open a little, as if he wished she could return to them.

"Happy Birthday, my King." She whispered, as she walked away, so quietly that he wasn't even sure if he had heard her correctly.

…..

Loki stared after her for a few seconds, saw her take her fiancé's arm and ask to leave. When Loki started to find his bearing, he was suddenly swept up into the arms of a new partner, whose strong and sure lead pulled them both into the middle of a crowd.

"Sif." Loki said. He meant for it to come out a question, but instead it sounded like an accusation.

"Your royal highness, king of Asgard." She said, smiling up at the confused look on his face.

"Of all the presents I could have received on my birthday, I must say, a dance from the warrior of warriors herself if probably the sweetest one of all."

"It's nice to see that being King hasn't changed the sarcastic and surly way you talk down to everyone." She replied.

"To be quite honest I never thought you enjoyed my sarcastic surliness."

"I don't particularly, but it's nice to see that some things never change."

He raised both eyebrows at her. "How right you are."

Loki glanced around. They were attracting more than a few stares. It was well known that there was no love lost between the King and Sif. Loki turned back to her. He wondered what she was up to.

"Well Sif, I have to admit that you look rather lovely this evening, and I wouldn't be adverse to pulling you into the other room and having my way with you against one of the walls…"

He trailed off a little bit, now was usually the time when she would get angry, stamp her foot, or punch him in the face. Sif wasn't one to let things slide, but to his even greater confusion, she still said nothing. So he went on:

"…but since I imagine that you aren't here to take advantage of my body, there must be something else on your mind?"

"Indeed there is. You see, I've just taken a very productive trip to Jotunheim."

"Oh?"

His hands tightened around hers but she simply tightened hers around his as well.

"Oh, yes. In fact, I doubt you'll believe what I found there. On other hand, you might."

"Pray tell." He said through his teeth.

"Odin the All-Father! And here's the really insane part-he wasn't dead! He was imprisoned however, although at the time safely in the Odin-sleep."

"What do you want Sif?!" He tried to pull her away, out of he dancing crowd, but she wasn't having any of that.

"Nothing." She laughed once, then twice, then three times. "I don't want anything from you! Isn't that amazing? Once there was a time when maybe I might have begged you to help me win Thor's heart or to try and change my hair back to it's original color, but not anymore. There's only one thing that I want now." She leaned in close to his ear. "I just want to watch you fall. I want to see you crash, burn, suffer, and then hopefully, if there's any justice in this world, die."

She leaned away, smiling.

"And you aren't worried at all that I'll kill you now, right here, in front of everyone?"

"Not at all. Any time you commit murder it's always sneaky. But it wouldn't matter if you did. I told Fandral and Volstagg. I even took them to Jotunheim to show them for themselves. They are on their way to Earth, right now, to tell Thor. I don't imagine that it will take Thor very long to return once he hears the news. Enjoy the last few days of your reign, Loki."

The song ended, and she bowed low before him in a mockery of fealty.

"Happy birthday, my King!"

…..

Lately, Lora had noticed a certain special glow about Ragna, which she knew could only be for one or two reasons: One, she was getting a promotion, or Two, she had met a man. Ragna already had one of the best jobs at the lab, so she knew it probably wasn't number one. Ragna didn't make Lora wait long to confirm her suspicions.

"His name is Elric. I met him…well… do you remember that night that you and I went out for drinks after work?"

"No. Not really. Not very well, I should say."

"Well, apparently, (and you will hardly believe this Lora) King Loki himself saw us outside the bar, drunk, and he grabbed Elric, who delivers letters for a living, and asked him to take me back home. He didn't know where I lived, and of course I was too intoxicated to tell him, but he took me to his house and let me stay there for the night. In the morning he cooked me breakfast and we talked and laughed…' She trailed off for a minute blushing. She stopped when she noticed the strange look on Lora's face, although it wasn't for the reason that she expected. "Um, anyways. So we've been talking to each other ever since. And I swear, I think he's the one, Lora. I can't wait any longer, I've simply got to have him as my husband. What do you think? Would next week work? When are you…"

"Ragna!" Lora had been trying to get her friend's attention for several minutes, to no avail until now.

"What?"

"What did Elric say about King Loki? Why was he there?"

"Oh he didn't say much about him. Just that he was there and that he told Elric to take me home. He said he was very nice about it too, he paid him and everything. Oh, and I guess he took you home himself or something. How about that? You can tell your and Aric's children one day that the King took you home one night when you were too drunk to see straight."

"Aric?" Lora said, as if in a daze.

"Oh thanks for reminding me, Lora. We should have double weddings! Aren't you getting married in two weeks? That's a long time to wait, I suppose, but I think I can manage-"

"Two weeks?!" Lora said.

Ragna frowned. "Yes. I just said that. Anyway so I was thinking…"

"Uh.. Ragna I'm not feeing so well at the moment. Do you think that maybe we could talk about this later?"

They had been in the middle of a trial experiment, and when Lora ran out so suddenly, Ragna suddenly wondered what she was supposed to be doing.

….

Lora ran through the lab, making her way to the exit. But as she was almost there, her boss Eydis called out to her.

"Could you come into my office for a moment before you leave Lora dear?"

Sullenly, Lora turned and walked back in.

…..

As usual, Aric was waiting to walk Lora home after work.

Lora cringed at the broad smile on his face, but he didn't notice that anything was wrong until he put his arm around her shoulder and she stiffened.

"Lora? Sweet, is something wrong?"

"Could we talk for a moment, Aric?"

"Sure, whatever you want."

She pulled them into a small restaurant.

"I spoke to Edyis today at work. She says there is a senior position open in Vanaheim, and that if I wanted it I could take it."

"Lora! That's amazing! Of course you have to take it! We should celebrate. I'll send a message to your grandfather and we can…"

"Aric, stop. Aren't you worried about what this will mean for us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I will be in Vanaheim, and you will be here in Asgard…"

"Lora, of course I'll come with you to Vanaheim."

"That's the problem Aric. You're so…eager to drop everything and follow me. You have a stable job here, but you don't care to leave it. You know I'm mortal but you want to marry me anyways." _Damn Loki._ "Is it because…is it because you know that it'll only be for a little while? Is that why you're so unconcerned about my mortality? Because you know that if marrying me is a mistake, it's a mistake that won't last very long? Is it because you don't love me as much as I thought you did?"

For several moments, Aric was speechless. Lora wondered if that was more or less reassuring than if he had immediately tried to deny everything that she said.

_Well, hell, it may not be right with Loki, but it sure as hell isn't right with him._

"Aric, I know we are supposed to be married in two weeks, but I can't go through with it anymore. I just can't. I'm sorry."

Before he could speak to her, before he could grab her and alleviate all of her fears with his warm smile and honest, open face, she ran out of the restaurant, and away into the night.


	33. Chapter 32: Resolutions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Thor or Marvel, and this story is not for profit. **

**Author's Note at the bottom of the page.**

**Chapter 32: Resolutions**

"I just don't understand why you have to leave again so soon."

"Mother, please, I've already told you. I don't want to leave. Not really. It's a job. A good one. And I'll still visit all the time. It won't be like when I was on Midgard."

Helga ran a hand over her head for the fifth time that hour. "I know, I know. You've said that already. I just can't help but feel like you are running away again."

Lora stopped taking down pictures on her wall for a minute to stare at her mother. "Mom," she started, but after seeing the look on Helga's face went over to her mother and put a hand on either side of her face. She looked into her mother's eyes and spoke. "I am not running away mother, and nothing is wrong." Her mother opened her mouth to retort, but Lora quickly said, "And no, this is not about Aric. I've really never felt better now that we aren't engaged anymore. Do you believe me?"

Helga shook her head, but Lora still wasn't convinced. "Mother, look into my eyes. Do these look like the eyes of someone who is running away?"

Her mother finally smiled. "I suppose not. But I'm going miss you, child."

Lora grinned and let go of her mother. "I'm going miss you too, mother. But it won't be for forever, you'll see." She went back to folding and picking out the clothes that she was going to take with her when she left. "And we still have a week before I have to leave, anyway."

Helga perched casually on the end of Lora's bed. "So…this has nothing to do with that other guy? The one you told me about?"

Lora paused for just a split second before she went back to folding. "No. He's not in the picture, and I don't think he will be again."

"Well," Helga said, smiling again, "maybe you'll find someone new in Vanaheim!"

Lora smiled a little, but said softly, half to herself, "I doubt that."

….

Loki sat on his throne, all alone.

No one else remained in the grand room where the King received guests and supplicants. He had sent out even the guards who normally stood around while he sat.

He wanted to be alone this time. He did his best thinking when he was alone, and when he was under pressure. He was both at this time.

He ran one of his pale, long fingered hands over the shiny surface of the chair. This might be the last time he ever sat in this chair, or in this palace for that matter.

It wouldn't be long now before Sif and the others returned with Thor. Then he would only have two options: Fight, and probably lose since he was terribly outnumbered, or flee.

He sighed. _But I'm so tired of fleeing. _

But he wouldn't mind fleeing if he wasn't alone. He pictured for a minute what Lora would say if he came to her house and asked her to run away with him. She would probably laugh, or scream. No, she would probably say nothing. She would give him that sad, disappointed look that he hated to see more than anything else on in the nine realms. His mother used to give him the same look. How he missed her. How he missed them both.

His mother was gone now, but Lora wasn't. She was still alive. She was still within his reach. But at this point, he knew there was only one thing in the world he could do to win back her trust and love.

And it was the thing he dreaded more than anything.

He cringed just thinking about it. Literally shifted in his chair picturing what he would have to do to convince her of how much he loved her and how sorry he was.

He couldn't do it. He hadn't even thought about it, until this moment.

But he was out of time. And this, he knew, would be his last chance.

…

Lora lay in bed, not asleep but not exactly awake. She was in that strange, halfway state that for some reason always reminded her of being a child.

She lay on her back, when she suddenly had that horrible feeling that somebody was watching her.

She jumped up in bed and gasped, turning to see Loki standing in her room in front of her window.

She opened her mouth to cry for help but he was over to her quickly, covering her mouth with his hand, and putting a finger over his own, begging her to be silent.

She nodded and he slowly pulled his hand off of her mouth.

As frightened as Lora had been when Loki came in, she was suddenly calm now. His green eyes were serious, but they didn't appear to be angry. It was apparent to her that he did not mean her harm, but she was still nervous about his intentions.

She waited for him to speak, but he said nothing. He just stared at her.

Still sitting in bed, she watched as he shifted his feet a little. If she didn't know better, she would have almost said that Loki was nervous. But she had never seen him nervous once in all the time that she had known him.

Finally she could take the silence no longer. A million things she almost said, most of them kind. After all, she was about to leave. Now was the time to patch up old wounds. But instead she said, more harshly than she had meant, "What do you want, Loki?"

He sighed, running a hand through his long black hair. He looked at the ceiling, for a moment, letting out a little huff of laughter and shook his head to himself. _Well, what the hell. _He thought.

He took his outer jacket off, and then his tunic, until he was barecheasted.

Lora's heart, which had been steady, started to beat faster once again. _What was he doing?_

He still said nothing. But slowly, still watching her, held his palms out.

Slowly, his beautiful pale skin, even whiter in the moonlight, turned blue. It started in his finger tips and spread up his arms, over his chest, up his neck and all over his face. As it traveled up his face, his eyes, green as a cats, turned a bright shade of red.

_He's a frost giant_, she thought to herself, _a frost giant_. And then a voice in her head quietly added, _a monster._

She gulped, and had not realized until this moment that she had brought the sheets back up to her chest, as if for protection.

He still stared at her, and still, said nothing. His eyes, on the other hand, were begging. Begging what she did not know, and the longer she stared at him her cold terror turned to fury.

This was the man who had spurned her on account of her humanity? Who had looked so revolted when she told him that he had literally pushed her away? He, who was a monster? He looked just as terrible as everyone had said a Jotun would look. All the horror stories of her childhood, the terrible things that had been told about them came back to her. Was this why he was so cruel? Was this why he was a murderer? How had this happened, that a Jotun had been raised a prince of Asgard?

There were a million questions she had, but when she tried to speak all she could do was croak out a few syllablls.

Why couldn't she speak? Why couldn't she even look at him?

He was still waiting, even more desperately than before, for her to do something.

But she couldn't.

Admitting defeat, she put her head in her hands and wept. She was a hypocrite. Just as bad as Loki was, if not twice. It was his mind and soul that she had fallen in love with, not his body. It shouldn't matter what race he was. But she was terrified of him and she couldn't help it. She wondered if it was because of himself that he had been so angry that she had been human. Perhaps it wasn't her at all…

She chanced a look at him. He was still in his Jotun form. Still watching her. There was heartbreak in his eyes though, and she didn't blame him. He had just watched her cry from the mere sight of him. Ever since he had changed form her room had become much colder. She shivered and felt her tears freeze on her cheek.

He turned to go.

"Wait," she croaked, reaching hand out to hault him. He stood and turned while she pushed the covers back and lept out of bed.

She felt a twinge of embarressement as she came to stand before him. She was clad only in her nightgown, a light silk slip that barely came up to the middle of her thighs and was so thin it was easy to see what the cold was doing to her body.

She went up to him anyway, while he stood and waited, looking surprised. Standing right in front of him, she looked him in the eyes, and ran a hand through his hair. She watched him hold his breath as she got up on her toes and leaned up to kiss him.

She kissed him slowly, both hands around his neck hanging on to him, while he, still shocked, followed her lead as she gently moved her mouth against his.

He was freezing. After a while he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest. The kiss became deeper then, and more passionate, as he violently attacked her mouth with his own. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized he had spoken for the first time when he whispered, "Lora" into her ear when they both pulled away for a few seconds to breathe.

She had heard that a Jotun's touch was dangerous, that you could be severely frost bitten by just a single brush, but she realized that must be a defense machinism, because although his touch was as cold as ice she didn't feel hurt.

But boy was he cold. Even his breath sent shivers down her spine.

After a moment he pulled away and got down on his knees. Wrapping his arms around her he buried his face in her stomach. "I'm sorry." He whispered, right above where her navel was underneath her nightgown.

She looked down and met his eyes which he had turned up to stare at hers. "It's alright." She said, and she knew they both knew she was talking about more than just what he had done in the past.

Maybe he was asking her to forgive him with this display. Maybe he wasn't asking her to forgive him at all. Maybe he just finally had the courage to show this to her. Maybe he meant something more. She didn't know. He was Loki. She never knew what he was really thinking or what he meant by what he did.

But she didn't need to.

She gasped when he pulled her slip off her in one quick gesture, and drew them both over to her bed. He leaned over her, kissing her, taking up her entire universe until he leaned down even closer. She smiled at him and he smiled back and he stayed in his Jotun form the entire night, even while they made love.

Afterwards, they just stared at each other in complete bliss.

His skin was blue. Patterns ran along his body, the cold emanated off of him. His hair was still black but almost every part of this Jotun form was foreign to her. Expect his eyes. His eyes were red, but they were Loki's eyes.

And they, along with the rest of him, were hers.

**The End**

**Author's Note: Well that's a wrap guys! So…I'm a little nervous about how people might take the end of this story. I know it seems kind of abrupt, but this is actually how I intended the story to end all along. In fact the first part of this story that I had figured out was the ending. To me, this story was always just a love story between Loki and a human, along with their own journeys of self-discovery. I hope people aren't disappointed. I do want to thank everyone who has stuck with this story from the begininning and who favorited/followed/ and reviewed frequently: KateElizabethBlack, Kristian44, pietroraven36, Laufina, velvetSunset, and AltheaGray just to name a few. There is no way I could have finished this story without your support. **

**There will be a short epilogue posted shortly. After that I don't know. I have some other stories for different fandoms that I'm working on, but I want to write another Loki story. I have an idea for one sort of brewing, and I also have an idea for a sequel to this story, but I'm not sure yet if that will happen. Any opinions? Loved the story? Hated it? Leave a review! Also review if you want me to write a new story or do a sequel! I would love to get y'all's opinions! Thank you so much!**


	34. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"And don't mention your thoughts on war to my grandfather."

"I thought you said he collects sabers?"

"He does, but everyone knows that you always used magic whenever you went into battle."

"What's wrong with magic?"

"He doesn't like it. And he doesn't really trust people that use it."

Loki frowned, but Lora gave a sheepish smile, so he leaned down to pinch her cheek.

"Ow! Quit that!" She said, swatting his hand away.

For no apparent reason, he stopped them both as they were walking, and pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard, right in the middle of the street. Lora wondered if anyone walking by noticed that King Loki was standing in the middle of the city kissing some unknown commoner. It was just a passing thought, because her knees turned to butter and her heart fired up before she could give it more thought.

When they both pulled away, she looked up at him, still holding both of his hands. "What was that for?"

"I love you." He said.

She smiled. For one of the first times in her entire life, Lora was so happy that words failed her.

Loki put his arm around her as they continued their way to Lora's grandfather's house.

They had spent the entire day after last night laying in bed together, (luckily Helga had to work that day so they had the house to themselves) and for hours they had done nothing but talk, make love, and talk again, then repeat the cycle.

Lora had told Loki some of the things that happened to her while she was on Midgard, including her own forays into forgery and art. She had also told him about her real mother and how she was related to royalty herself. To her surprise, he had not acted shocked at all. "You were and will always be my princess." He had said. "I'm not surprised that you are one in actuality."

There were some things she left out about her trip when she talked to Loki, just as there were things that he left out when he told her about his own experiences in the time that they had been apart.

"Whatever has happened in the past," Loki had said, taking her hand as they had laid in bed next to each other, their heads on the same pillow, "it is all behind us now. I love you and you love me. There is only the future for us now."

His words summed up what they were doing now, as they made their way to Lora's grandfather's house.

Loki had told her about Sif's discovery.

_"It won't be long before Thor returns and confronts me for all that I have done." _

_"How long?" _

_"I don't know, but not much longer now." _He had said.

She told him about her job offer in Vanaheim, and he had been surprised and delighted by it. He had insisted she take it, because, as he had said, he may not be King of Asgard for very much longer. When Thor returned Loki was either going to have to flee or fight. Maybe both. But no matter what happened, Loki had said, it would be good if she was in Vanaheim. He would be able to visit her there no matter what ended up happening, although Lora tried not to think about what might happen.

But no matter what fate had in store for the two of them, there was one thing Lora had requested. That Loki meet her mother and grandfather.

He had agreed, to her amusement.

As they made their way there now, Lora noticed that, in her nervousness, she was talking a little too fast.

"They don't know you're coming, so they will probably be very surprised. I already told you what to say and what not to say, so it should be fine. Now, as long as you don't say anything bad, my grandfather will probably love you. In his wildest dreams he probably never imagined his granddaughter with the King of Asgard. So he's going to roll the red carpet out for you. And I mean roll it out."

Loki raised and eyebrow at her. "Red carpet?"

"Sorry, it's a Midguardian expression I picked up."

They had made it to her grandfather's front door. Loki reached up to use the knocker, but before he could, Lora put a steadying hand on his arm. "Wait," she said.

He waited.

She took a deep breath. "My mother knows that I've had a rough few years. She knows that part of that might have to do with some guy whose name I've never told her. When she meets you, she might blame it on you. At the very least she might be a bit hostile. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Lora," he said, being the one to now share a steadying hand, "it'll be ok. If she hates me, I can take it. I won't start a fight. If you love her than I love her too."

Lora let out a deep breath. "Just…promise me that you'll make a good impression? A grand introduction?"

This time his smile was wicked.

"Of course, darling. I always do, don't I?"

**The End**


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